Intertwind Darkness
by GarageWolf
Summary: After Riku and Sora return safely home, Disney Castle is attacked! By Maleficent, Pete, and a strange girl called Ayah. Who is this girl? And what happened in her past that made her hate the world? Can Riku help her?RikuXOC
1. Emergency

Sora slowly opened his eyes from his long, and at last, peaceful sleep. The morning light made it hard to keep them open, so he laid in his bed Intel his eyes were used to the light. Hearing the waves crashing on the shore, he took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled the salty air around him. It was good to be home.

It seemed like just yesterday he and Riku came back to the Island. Sora was still not used to the fact that he was finally home. He sometimes thought it was a dream and when he woke up, he would see Donald and Goofy lying next to him, and he would continue his journey in search of Riku.

But this was no dream.

The things around him were real. His bed, his desk, the outside world was all real.

Sora again took another deep breath, and sighed. Time to get up.

He did his usual morning stuff, took a shower, got dressed, brushed his teeth, make his bed, and headed out the door.

The Island was full of business today. People with carts, decorations, and food could be seen all over the streets. It seemed like everyone was busy. The festival was coming.

During this time of the year, Destiny Island held its annual festival. It marks the anniversary of when the town was first built. So of course it was a big deal here. The houses, signs, and poles were all decorated with streamers and ribbons. Sora was so existed. Its almost here, thought Sora. He then hurried his pace, and walked toward the café.

It was filled with his teenagers from all over the island. It was that hottest place in town. It had video games, pool tables, a juice box, and an awesome snack bar!

Sora saw his friends Kairi, and Riku already at the snack bar. Riku swung his seat around and stared at Sora. "Your late." Riku taunted. Sora gave Riku a smirk. "Aren't I always?" Kairi giggled.

Sora sat in the seat next to Kairi and gave his seat a twirl before finally placing his hands on the counter and ordering a drink. Riku rolled his eyes.

One of the workers, named Tom, zipped right passed the dancing, and eventful teenagers and stopped when he got to the far end of the counter. He then took out one of the scrolls under his arm and started to tape it to the wall.

"What's that?" asked Sora.

Tom gave Sora a grin and said, " Dance on the night of the festival."

"Really?" Selphie cut in so fast it made Sora jump. As soon as she heard the word "dance" she must of ran from where ever she was standing to find the source. She was always existed with stuff like that.

"Yep."

"Where?" Sora asked.

"Right here. Now if you'll excuse me I got to get back to work." Tom hurried off without another word.

"That otta be fun. You guys wanna go?"

"Sure." Kairi smiled in reply. Riku nodded.

This time, This placeMisused, Mistakes

"Oh I love this song!" Kairi squealed.

Too long, too lateWho was I to make you wait?

"Yeah." Sora replied receiving his blue, energy drink.

Just one chanceJust one breathJust in case there's just one left

Not listening to Sora, Kairi, and Selphie's talk about the up coming dance, Riku began to get lost in his thoughts.

'Cause you know,you know, you know

Every time Riku heard this song, it reminded him about Sora and Kairi.

I love youI have loved you all alongAnd I miss youBeen far away for far too long

They had such a bond that it surpassed any Riku had every seen. It wasn't just friendship.

I keep dreaming you'll be with meand you'll never go

It was love.

Stop breathing ifI don't see you anymore

It was completely obvious to him that the two liked each other. Sora, he knew from day one. But Kairi…

One my knees, I'll askLast chance for one last dance

'Cause with you, I'd withstandAll of hell to hold your hand

It took him a while, but he figured it out. At the World that Never Was when Kairi hugged Sora, and was willing to fight just to see him.

I'd give it allI'd give for usGive anything but I won't give up'Cause you know,you know, you know

He knew she loved him.

That I love youI have loved you all along

He has suspected something after the fight with Xehanort heartless. That's why he let go of Kairi.

And I miss youBeen far away for far too long

Sure, he admitted that he used to like her.

I keep dreaming you'll be with meand you'll never goStop breathing ifI don't see you anymore

But those days were over.

So far awayBeen far away for far too long

He knew that it was useless to carry those emotions around.

So far awayBeen far away for far too longBut you know, you know, you know

He knew that Kairi belonged with Sora. She was light after all. Darkness didn't belong with light.

I wantedI wanted you to stay

He was just waiting for the day when they finally come to their senses to realize how much they like each other.

Cause I neededI need to hear you say

He sometimes wanted to smack Sora and say "Hello! She likes you! Ask her out already!"

That I love youI have loved you all along

But he knew it wasn't his place to say that. He knew someday they would finally come to terms with their emotions.

And I forgive you

And maybe someday…

For being away for far too long

He might find someone.

So keep breathing'Cause I'm not leaving

Riku, started, shook his head to erase the thought.

Hold on to me andnever let me go

He would never find love. Love has never been meant for him. He sighed. He was one of those people who were destined to be alone. But a shred of hope still wavered in the back of his mind.

"Earth to Riku." Sora waved his hand in front of Riku's face.

"I guess I'll just have to wait and see." Thought Riku, moving his head to face the others.

"You okay?" Kairi inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Riku said softly.

"You don't look to good. How bout we go over to the Island and play some blitzball with Tidus and Wakka? That otta cheer you up!" Selphie offered.

"Hey that sounds like fun. I'm in." Sora announced.

"Me too." Said Kairi.

"Sure." Riku nodded. The group got up from their seats.

But if there is a "someday", when will that day come? Riku didn't think he could suppress these emotions for long. He again tried to snap out of it by shaking his head, harder than before.

The group didn't make it half way down the street when they were stopped. Donald and Goofy were running toward them, and had worried faces.

Sora felt a wave of worry wash over them. Something happened.

"Donald? Goofy?" Sora yelled. The two stopped and tried to catch their breath but started to talk before they were ready.

Donald manages to get some words out. "The castle…danger…Maleficent."

Just that one word made Sora quiver. It sounded like Maleficent was up to her old tricks again.

Goofy straightened up. "We need you back at the castle at once."


	2. Invasion

Turns out, Maleficent, for some reason, decided to invade Disney Castle. She and Pete had collected a numerous amount of Heartless during the time they were gone, and used this new army to attack.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku hurried on the Gummi Ship, and headed toward Disney Castle. The plan was for the three to help defend the castle. Sora's protest to Kairi about fighting was futile. Once Kairi made up her mind, she stuck to it.

"But how are you gonna fight?" Sora asked.

"With this." Kairi held out her hand. The Gummi ship was quite except for the boosters that could be heard in the background. 

Nothing happened.

"Kairi…" Sora started to say something but got cut off when a keyblade flew into Kairi's hands. She gave him an innocent smile. Sora scratched the back of his head.

"Do you guys know what she's up to?" Riku asked. Donald shook his head. "They just attacked out of no where." Goofy replied. Riku nodded. He turned his attention to the window and watched as stars flew by. He wanted to get to Disney Castle as soon as possible. Sora looked at his friend. Riku's face was evident that he was full of worry for his friend, King Mickey. 

The Gummi ship came to a slow halt. And it started to descend toward the world below them.

Sora only took one step outside when he was attacked by the Heartless. He drew his keyblade to keep the Shadows away. They were everywhere. He whacked away at the weak Heartless. 3 Shadows jumped up to tackle Sora, but 3 balls of white fire attacked them and made them disappear into dust.

Riku jumped down beside Sora. He nodded and both jumped into the air. 

The two shot several white fires from their hands that seem to be attracted to the Heartless and moved with amazing speed toward the Heartless. Then, Sora and Riku moved closer toward the heartless and used 13 blades that circled around them and made heartless fly into the air if they touched it. The two dropped down to the ground and started to fight by their selves again. 

Kairi was actually pretty good. She was back with Donald and Goofy fighting. She may not know any magic, but she still helped out a lot. 

A Solider arose from the ground right in front of her. Kairi, startled, took a few steps back. Seeing this, Sora started to run to help her. Then, Kairi raised her keyblade and ran toward the Heartless. She slashed the Heartless several times until it reduced to dust. Sora stopped and smiled, but was quickly jumped by a Shadow.

Even though they destroyed many Heartless, more and more took their place.

"This isn't working." Riku announced.

"We gotta get in the Castle." Sora yelled.

"Over here!"

Sora turned around to see that Daisy (aka Donald's girlfriend) was waving her arms jumping up and down near the door to the castle. 

"Come on!" Sora yelled. The group hurried toward the door. Sora stayed in the front, and destroyed all the Heartless that were in his path. 

When they finally got in side, Daisy started to smother Donald in kisses. 

"Oh my dear Donald! I was so worried." Daisy yelled.

Not wanting to be caught in one of the kisses, Sora slowly started to get Daisy's attention.

"Uhh…hey Daisy…"

Daisy immediately stopped and looked at him, Donald's head rolled back and his eyes moving all around. "Umm…do you know where the king is?"

She dropped Donald and put her hands on her cheeks, he feel to the ground. "Oh dear! He's in the audience chamber! Hurry before Maleficent kills him!" Riku started to run. The others wasted no time. The group ran down the hall and through the door.

The king was surrounded by Heartless. NeoShadows, and Morning Stars surrounded the whole room. Mickey had his keyblade drawn, with Minnie behind him. Maleficent and Pete stood in the center of the room.

"Your Majesty," Maleficent started. "Come with me peacefully and I'll leave your kingdom alone." 

"There's no way you would ever keep the promise!" Minnie declared. Some NeoShadows moved in. "How could you ever doubt my word." Maleficent gave an evil look. 

"Now." She reached out her hand. "Come along. 

Mickey clenched his fist. He lowered his keyblade and groaned. He started to walk forward. "No!" Minnie shouted. She started to run after him but was quickly stopped by NeoShadows. Mickey kept walking Intel he was right in front of Maleficent. His keyblade disappeared.

Maleficent gave a snicker. "Now," Maleficent raised her staff up. "Hold still." Mickey never moved. A dark green aurora surrounded Mickey. "No!" Minnie yelled. She tried to get over the Heartless around her but they kept pushing her back.

Maleficent gave her an evil laugh. She then pointed her staff right at Mickey. "Say goodbye!" 

"Ba bye!" Pete said as he waved.

Mickey lowered his head in defeat. Maleficent threw her staff at him. Minnie's whimpering could be heard.

"NO!"

This time it wasn't Minnie. 

Riku knocked the staff right out of her hand with his Way to Dawn.

"Riku!" Mickey exclaimed. Riku remained silent, and got into battle position. Maleficent rose her hand and called the staff back to her. It rose from the ground and slowly came toward her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Riku. My old dear friend." 

Riku used Dark Aurora to attack her. She waved her staff in front of her that made a green shield. Riku groaned.

Maleficent laughed, "Thank you Riku." Riku drew down his Keyblade. "If it weren't for you and that fool Ansem I wouldn't have gotten these new powers." 

Riku gritted his teeth. 

Sora came from behind Maleficent and flung his keyblade at her. But the shield blocked it.

"What?" Sora gasped. Maleficent laughed.

"I'm really getting sick of that laugh." Riku grunted.

"I'd like to let you know that I have made a new friend. She's quite remarkable. She has let her self deeper in the darkness than you ever had, Riku." 

Riku looked at her with confusion. Was she playing with them?

"I'd like to introduce her to you. Oh Ayah!" Maleficent called. The room was hollow. Maleficent's echo could be the only thing to be heard. 

All of a sudden a dark portal appeared right beside Maleficent. A girl stepped out.

She had black hair that reached past her shoulders. She had two tank tops on. The first was black that ran all the way to her hips, and the second one was red, and was smaller than the black one. She had blue pants that came to her ankles. She had black shoes. She had red, crimson eyes. Not like the one Ansem had, but they were…different.

Her face expression showed no emotion. Pete seemed to look away from her in a jealous way. She had a straight face. Maleficent put her hand on her shoulder. "Beautiful isn't she. You and her would make a nice couple, Riku." 

Riku groaned with annoyance. She had toyed with him long enough. But all of a sudden, something caught his eye.

The girl named Ayah must not taken lightly to the comment either. She clenched her fist so hard they were turning white.

"Kairi." Sora looked behind him. "When we distract Maleficent, got to Minnie and wipe out the Heartless around her.

"Right." Kairi nodded. Sora raised his keyblade and started to attack. Riku also rose to fight. 

Maleficent smiled. "Ayah would you show these boys what kind of power their dealing with." Ayah nodded, but without changing her expression. She then raised her hand that assembled a keyblade. It was black, and had fang shaped metal at the end. She then hit the air with the keyblade, which made two boomerang shaped white fires. The fires went directly toward Riku and Sora, which knocked them down. 

Kairi, quietly, ran to Minnie's rescue. She was able to kill some Neoshadows, but the Morning Stars she could barely hit. But at least she made it to Minnie.

Riku and Sora jumped in the air and pointed their keyblades toward the girl. Ayah then, shot out more boomerang fires at them. These must have been more powerful than the last, because it flung Sora and Riku flying across the room. Sora landed close to the wall, but barely missed it. Riku, on the other hand, got sent all across the room. His back slammed on the door. Maleficent started to laugh.

"Kairi." Minnie rose out her hand. "Give me your hand." Kairi stared for a minute, then nodded. She took Minnie's hand. "Now, close you eyes." Kairi did as she was told.

A blinding light arose from Minnie and Kairi. It spread throughout the whole room. Everyone had to close their eyes to avoid being blind.


	3. Light

When the light ended, and everyone opened their eyes, they found that Maleficent was gone. So were Ayah and Pete.

Sora groaned. "Is…everybody ok?"

"I think so." Kairi said. She sounded dizzy. Sora got up, and dusted himself off. He looked at his surroundings. The room was the same. It was bright and everything. Mickey was sitting on the ground. And Kairi and Minnie were still near the throne. Kairi was standing but she seamed a little wobbly. Sora ran to check if she was ok.

"Kairi, you ok?" Sora said when he reached her.

"I'm fine." Kairi tried to force a smile, but when she did she nearly fell down. Sora caught her arm to giver her balance.

"Thanks."

"I had to use a last resort." Minnie started. "Entities of the dark cannot withstand the light of the Seven Princesses. I used Kairi's light to power up mine." Minnie looked to Kairi. "I'm sorry Princess, it drained some of your strength, but with a day's rest, you'll be back up in no time." Minnie had a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry about it your majesty, I'll be fine." Kairi smiled. Minnie face looked brighter.

"Where's Riku?" Sora thought aloud. He looked around to see Riku still laid in the spot where he had landed in the attack.

"Riku!" Mickey yelled. He ran to help out his friend. So did Sora.

"So that is Riku." Minnie assumed. "The king has told me so much about him."

"He has?" Kairi questioned. Minnie nodded. "Yes. The boy who wields darkness, but yet walks in the light. That boy saved Mickey from not just danger, But from loneliness. My worry seized when I knew, he was with a companion. " She started to walk toward him. Kairi followed.

Riku was awake, but just barely. The collision with the door made it so he could barely move. His whole body felt numb.

"Riku are you ok?" Mickey said softly. He kneeled himself beside Riku. "Yeah…I'm fine." Riku tried to get up. He pushed his hands against the ground to help him up. But he fell right back down. He groaned with frustration.

"Riku!"

Sora came over to his friend.

"Riku, this is my fault." Mickey mumbled. "I shouldn't have gotten you involved in this."

Riku made a grunt type laugh. "I would have been anyway." Riku looked toward Mickey.

"She was planning on turning you into a Heartless."

"What?" Mickey said confused. "Why would she do that?"

"Probley to add to her army." Riku coughed.

Mickey clenched his fist. "Riku…"

"Don't worry." Minnie was walking slowly toward them. Eyes fixed on Riku. When she reached him she put out her hand on Riku's back. It started to glow. Riku flinched in pain. "Hold steady Riku. It wont take long." Minnie assured him. Riku nodded and placed his head on the floor, fist clenched.

In about a minute, Minnie stopped. Riku seemed to look a lot better than he did. And it turned out he had some strength left to stand up, but just barely. Mickey clapped his hands. Three Brooms came to attention.

"Get him to a room. The best one." Mickey directed. They waved their hands in a salute, and then started to hurry out the door. "Sora," Mickey looked at him. "Can you take Riku to the room?" Sora nodded. "Just follow the Brooms."

Sora grabbed Riku's arm and put it around his neck. They both started to walk out the door.


	4. A living Hearltess

Ayah walked through the corridors of the castle. Maleficent gave it a completely different look after Organization XIII was destroyed. The floors were an eerie green. And the walls were a brown. And had statues everywhere. _Just like it had been in her "Hollow Bastion." _Ayah thought. One thing about Ayah, she loved to read. She had read books about Hollow Bastion and how it was conquered by Maleficent. The Organization had many books here. Some were documents written by the one called Vexen. So she usually spent her days looking in their library that was no bigger than a child's room. She sighed as she entered the room.

On all sides of the room were book selves. In the corner was a small couch with foot rests. And on the other side from the door was a large window that stretched across the wall.

She searched through the bookshelves, hoping to find one that was at least a bit interesting. She gritted her teeth, and groaned in frustration.

"Having trouble my dear?"

Ayah turned around to find Maleficent had just entered the room. She turned around to face the book self again. "That stupid Organization only has books about "The Heart," and "Light and Darkness." There's nothing the least bit interesting to read!" She said in a frustrated tone. Maleficent made a smile and put her hand on her chin, as a gesture of thinking. "Hmmm…" She thought.

Ayah moved her head a little, only having one eye look at her. "What?"

"I believe I have an idea. How about we visit Radiant Garden tomorrow?"

"For what?" Not moving her head. She gave her evil grin. "I've…left something there." She started to walk out the door.

"What do you mean, Maleficent?" Ayah turned around to face her. Maleficent laughed. "My dear girl, you remind me so much of Riku…"

Ayah drew out her keyblade. "Compare me with him again, and I'll make you eat those words." She lowered her keyblade. "I'm nothing like him. I'm stronger! I'm not afraid of the darkness."

"As you wish my dear. But remember; be careful of the darkness in your heart. If your not careful...it can control you.." She turned around to leave.

"I'm completely aware of that." Ayah mumbled withdrawing her Keyblade.

"Why do you care about that brat so much?" Pete complained. "After everything you do for her, she ain't even gave you one thank you. If I were you, I'd turn her into a Heartless and get the whole thing over with!" Pete laughed.

"Silence!" Maleficent snapped. Pete shrank in fear. "Do you even know who she is?" Maleficent looked at him. Pete just had a clueless face. "No…no of course not."

"I will tell you this…" Maleficent started. Pete looked intrigued. "She's like a living, breathing Heartless."


	5. Off Again

Riku laid on the bed of dark room. The room was very comfortable. The bed was huge, and the room was bigger than his house! He tried to tell Mickey it was too much but he wouldn't hear it. He said he deserved it.

It had been two days after the big battle, and Riku wounds from it had healed, but he was still tired. He had been in this room for two days. While he laid there, question raced through his head. What would Maleficent do next? Where was she? Was she going to come back?

But most importantly the main thing on his mind was the strange girl called Ayah.

He hated to see someone being used by her like he was. But then again, half of him said she wasn't being used. Was she really doing it by her own free will? He didn't think it was just a coincidence that he was injured and not Sora. Riku thought that she purposely hit him harder. She must have not taken the comment about her and him lightly, but why? Just mere teasing wasn't it? It was meant to make him angry not her…or was it Maleficent's way of getting her to fight to her limit. Riku didn't know. But he wanted too.

Riku sat up on his bed. I should check up on the others. He thought.

As Riku walked through the halls, he saw that the garden was being repaired from the damage the Heartless did. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi were helping out. It made Riku laugh to see Donald instructing all of this. He shouted orders at the Brooms, who gave him no respect and just kicked him when he wasn't looking. Riku headed into the audience chamber.

Lots of Brooms were also in here. Sweeping away the ruble in the battle. The king and queen seemed to be in a large debate with each other on the throne, although he couldn't exactly make out what they were saying. When Mickey saw Riku walk in the door, he jumped right off his seat and ran toward Riku. He jumped and Riku caught him, and twirled him around. "I'm glad your ok, Riku." Mickey said as he put him down. "No worries." Assured Riku.

"Riku…" Minnie announced as she started to walk toward him. She made a bow toward him. All the Brooms around them stopped what they were doing and bowed as well. Minnie stood up. "Thank you for saving my husband. We are in you debt." Mickey nodded.

"No, we're even." Mickey looked confused.

"You've saved me before. Remember? In Castle Oblivion. So we're even now."

Mickey smiled, and nodded.

"Riku!"

Kairi ran up and hugged her friend. She was so fast that she nearly knocked Riku off his feet.

"You scared me. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I worried you Kairi." Riku apologized. She removed her arms from Riku and stepped back. "You do look better."

Riku placed his hand on his hips. "Thanks Doctor Kairi." He teased trying to lighten up the mood. They laughed.

"Hey Riku!" Sora yelled walking in. "You feeling any better?"

Riku was about to respond, when Chip and Dale rushed in. They were jumping up and down.

"You Majesty!" Chip yelled. "We just got an urgent message from Radiant Garden."

"Maleficents there!" Dale chimed in.

"Sora!" Mickey announced. "You, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi go to Radiant Garden. I'll stay here incase she decided to attack."

The others started to walk towards the door. "Wait Riku!" Sora yelled. He ran to catch up with his friend. "You sure your up for this?"

"Yep. Beside, I have some unfinished business with that girl."


	6. Radiant Garden

When they finally got to Radiant Garden, they saw that everything was normal. There were no signs of disturbance what so ever.

On the way to Leon and the others, Kairi seemed to be examining the area carefully. Her head swayed back and forth. "What the matter Kairi?" Sora asked. Kairi, still looking answered, "I've never been here after the town was rebuilt, but this place seems familiar."

"You used to live here didn't you?" Sora inquired.

"True. But it still feels weird."

When they finally reached the house, they found the door was locked. Sora kept trying to pull the latch on the door. When he still didn't succeed, Donald grabbed on to his waist and started to pull.

Then a big cloud of sparks appeared beside them. It was Merlin the wizard. It startled Sora enough for him to let go. He and Donald fell to the ground.

"Sora is that you?" Merlin asked.

"Hey ya Merlin?" Goofy exclaimed. "Where's Leon?" Sora jumped up.

"He's inside, we locked the door incase it was Maleficent." He waved his fingers at the door. It busted open.

"Come on in!" Merlin welcomed.

As Sora walked in, he saw nothing. But then all of a sudden the Gull Wings dropped down. "Hi Sora!" Rikku yelled. Sora, startled, fell to the ground. The girls laughed.

"Need some help?" Yuffie held her hand out to Sora. He accepted it.

"You made it." The voice was Leon. He and Aerith started to walk toward Sora. "The king told me you found your friends." Said Leon.

"We're happy for you." Aerith held her hands up in excitement.

"Oh, right." Sora remembered.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Kairi and Riku. Kairi and Riku, meet Leon," He pointed to Leon. "Aerith, Yuffie, Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and…" Sora looked around the room. "Where's Cid?"

"He's at the Bailey keeping an eye on Maleficent." Leon answered.

"Were is she?" Riku asked.

"Where her castle once stood. But I have no idea why." Yuffie responded. "There's nothing left there."

"Not in case you count the library." Aerith added.

"What about it?" Kairi inquired.

"You see, after we tore apart the castle, we tried to get in the library to save the books.

But when we tried to open it again, it was locked." Replied Aerith.

"Even Merlin's magic wouldn't work." Said Yuffie.

"But maybe the Keyblade will." Leon thought aloud.

"Ok, we'll try it. But after we find Maleficent." Sora said.

"Then lets head over." Leon instructed.

"Hey there, Spikey!' Cid exclaimed when he saw Sora. He had binoculars, and was spying on the castle from the opening in the wall.

"Any sign of her?" Leon asked.

"Nope. Not since she went in."

"Was anyone with her?" Riku inquired.

"Yeah. Ah big guy, even though he didn't look human…"

"That's Pete." Donald shouted.

"And the other one was a girl…about your age. Black hair with two tanks tops and

Jeans…"

"That's Ayah." Said Riku, putting his hands together. Sora nodded.

"Who is she?" Leon asked.

"We'll tell you all we know on the way there." Said Sora. "Let's go!"

"Ok Maleficent I've had enough. Tell me what your doing." Ayah asked with annoyance. They had gotten into the old broken down castle. The statues were broken and ruble was everywhere. You had to watch your step unless you wanted to fall. They were lucky they were even in the castle. But Maleficent had made an secret opening when she was "reborn".

"Patience, my dear child. Patience." She said with gentleness. She started to climb up the dirty and covered stairs.

"Now lookie here kiddo, show some respect to Maleficent. She's done a lot for ya." Pete nagged.

Ayah huffed. "I don't take orders from you Pete." She started to follow Maleficent. Pete groaned and stomped his feet.

Maleficent stopped at a door to her left. It had an aurora around it that surrounded the whole door and in its cracks. It had the Heartless symbol on it.

"What is that?" Ayah asked.

"Your present." Maleficent smiled. Ayah gave her a confused look.

"I locked this door with the remaining of my power during my absence. Those foolish people rid my castle of my belongings." Maleficent grunted. "But, they never could get in this room."

"What's inside?" Ayah asked. Maleficent smirked and lifted up her staff. She tapped it against the door and the aurora was gone.

"Well." Maleficent exclaimed. "What are you waiting for? Open it."

Ayah gave Maleficent a look and then walked toward the door. She slowly touched the door, hoping it wasn't a trap. Then she pushed the doors open. It revealed the library.

Ayah gasped in astonishment. This was the biggest library she had ever seen. It still remained untouched from when Maleficent was last here.

"What do you think?" Maleficent asked seeing Ayah was very pleased. "Its…great." Said Ayah not giving off too much emotion. She then looked toward Maleficent. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"My dear," She placed her cold hand on Ayah's cheek. "I only want to make you happy. Your like a daughter to me."

Ayah quickly removed the hand. "I seriously doubt that." She said walking in the library.

Maleficent smiled as she walked off.

"So you don't know much about that girl, huh?" Leon asked. Sora shook his head.

"Well, knowing you, you'll find out soon." Leon stated.

They had finally reached the castle. It had ruble all around it.

"How do we get in?" Asked Donald.

"Over here." Leon summoned. He was near a pipe that seemed to lead into the castle. "We made this in case of an emergency. It leads right into the castle."

"Right." Sora started to head in.

"Wait." Leon motioned. Sora stopped.

"See those other pipes? They lead into the castle too. But at different places." Leon looked at Sora. "We'll have to split up. Maleficent could be anywhere."

Sora thought for a moment. "Ok."

"How about I go alone." Riku stated. "Sora, you can go with Leon. Donald and Goofy can be together too."

"What happens if you get attacked or something."

"I'll fight."

"I mean, what will happen if you get seriously hurt. We wont be there to back you up. And your still a little weak from the last battle."

"Come on Sora. You know I can take care of myself." Riku teased. Sora thought for a moment. "Ok." Sora said hesitating. Riku nodded and headed in the pipe.


	7. Unfinshed Business

"_You don't belong here Ayah." _

_A man in white stood in front of Ayah. He had a stern look on his face and was pointing at her._

"_Leave!"_

_Several people suddenly appeared behind the man, all shouting with pitchforks and torches._

"_Get out of here!"_

"_Get lost!"_

"_You demon!"_

"_We don't want any dark beings in our town."_

_Ayah held her hands over her ears. She wanted to scream but she didn't. She had to stay calm. Maybe they would give up._

"_We said get out!" A man threw a torch at her. She ran._

_Tears ran down her cheeks as she scurried. She wanted this to be a dream…but it wasn't._

Ayah slowly put down the book she was looking at. She hated to be reminded of her past. But memories flooded into her day after day.

"_It was years ago_" she shook her head "_get over it_"

She then felt a presence. It just entered the castle. "Maleficent."

"Yes." Maleficent walked toward her.

"Something just entered the castle."

Maleficent frowned. "We must have been spotted. Very well I deal with the intruder myself." She started to head towards the door.

"Wait…"

Maleficent turned around to face her.

"I sense others too. It must be the Keybladers and there friends. 2 are at the top. 2 are at the basement, and one is in the hall.

"Pete. You take the basement. Ayah you take the one in the hall. I will deal with the rest." She snapped her fingers. A large roar was could be heard somewhere in the castle…

Sora looked at the view from the top of the castle. You could see the whole town from here. The room he was standing in was eerie. It had a table in the middle and had walls with something in it.

"No sigh of Maleficent." Sora stated. "I wonder if the others are having any luck."

A powerful roar was heard that shock the whole entire castle. In a matter of moments, two Darkthorns appeared.

"Hopefully better luck than us." Leon groaned drawing out his gunblade.

Riku had just made it to the hall entrance. The castle was completely in ruins. "Sure hope it stays that way" thought Riku. He didn't really want to be here. It brought bad memories.

He walked to the center of the room, and kicked a piece of ruble. It skidded across the room and broke. A ferocious roar was heard. It shook the whole castle. "Wonder where that came from." Riku thought. He then heard a noise above him. He then knew he was not alone.

Ayah came out of the darkness of the ceiling with her keyblade drawn. She had it angled toward him.

Riku did a back flip to avoid the attack. Ayah's collision with the floor made a huge hole. Dust was blown everywhere. Riku moved to the far side of the room to make sure he was nowhere near her.

As soon as the dust cleared, Ayah slowly moved out of the hole. She looked at Riku with an angry expression, red demon eyes on him. She drew her keyblade in battle position.

"Back from licking your wounds?" Ayah taunted.

"Ah…so she speaks." Riku retorted.

"Are you gonna fight or not?"

Riku huffed. He raised his hand in the air to summon his Keyblade. "Yep. You and I have some unfinished business." He got in battle position.

She ran toward him with her keyblade pointing right at him. Riku then used Dark Aurora.

She stopped and jumped in the air to avoid the white fires. She then made her white fire boomerangs. Riku made a shield to block it. Ayah grunted in irritation.

"Sorry, but that wont work with me this time." Riku yelled.

"Nice trick…for someone that's afraid of the dark."

"Did Maleficent tell you that?" Ayah didn't respond. Riku then charged after her.

She then used her boomerangs again. Riku destroyed them with his keyblade.

"What?!" Ayah grunted. "_This guy isn't as easy as I thought_." Ayah started to spin around in a circle. A huge whirlwind was made. Five white lines of fire seemed to come out of the dusty cyclone. The lines turned into demon dragon heads, and charged at Riku. Riku stopped running and jumped up to avoid them, but they followed him.

He did a spin in the air, and using his Keyblade slashed the dragon heads one by one. He fell to the ground, panting.

Ayah gave an evil grin. "Now's my chance, while he's tired. Then she used another white fire boomerang. "Lets see him dodge that."

As it came closer to Riku, he stood up and had pointed his keyblade at it, he charged.

While running he used Dark Aurora, and the impact with Ayah's attack made a huge explosion, blocking Ayah's view of Riku.

As soon as the dust cleared, Ayah looked around to see where Riku was. He was nowhere.

"What? He couldn't have died. Did he run away?" Ayah wondered.

"Come on out you coward!" She yelled. She started to walk toward the middle of the room, to see if there was any sign of him. Ayah stopped, she saw markings of the impact of where the two attacks collided. But Riku's body was nowhere to be found. "Where did he go?" Ayah asked herself with irritation. She wanted to find him!

She then felt something.

She looked above her. Riku had a shield around him, and was charging straight at her. There was no time for her to dodge the attack. Riku made a direct hit.

He slammed Ayah right to the ground, making a huge indent in the hallway floor. Riku took a few jumps back, making sure he was in far range for a counter attack.

When there was no movement, Riku slowly walked toward the hole. When he finally came up to it, he saw Ayah in the middle. She must have been stuck because she wasn't moving. Her red eyes showed more hatred than anything Riku had ever seen. She laid there, staring.

"So what are you waiting for? Finish it!" She yelled at Riku. He said nothing. Her eyes were burning red. Fist clenched.

"Why are you with Maleficent?"

She was surprised. "Why does he care?" She thought.

"I have my reasons."

"What are they?"

"…She'll help me use my curse to my advantage. She will make me strong."

"You're not going to gain anything if you stick with her."

"You'd be surprised at what she's done. She has made my heart stronger than it has ever been."

"What makes the heart strong is not power. Its what inside it."

Ayah said nothing. A dark portal immerged from underneath her. She slowly faded in.

"Riku!"

The dark portal disappeared, along with Ayah.

Riku turned around to find Sora and Leon.

"Hey, you ok? We heard some huge bangs from the stairs." Sora asked.

"I'm fine. I took care of that girl." Riku answered. Sora grinned.

"Satisfied now?"

"Yep! What about you? I heard some roars earlier."

"We had to fight some Heartless. Nothing we couldn't handle." Sora exclaimed putting his arms in back of his head. Leon laughed

"Hey!" It was Donald and Goofy.

"Hey. Did you find anything?" Sora asked.

"Well, we found Pete." Goofy answered.

"He was easy!" Donald stood up to make himself look taller. "You guys look awful what happened?"

"We just got through some HARD battles, Donald! I can't believe you guys got Pete. He's the easiest." Sora complained. They all laughed.


	8. The Heart

"Why that stupid, big headed, egotistical, inflexible, idiot!"

Ayah stormed through the hallways of the castle. Losing was something she did not take lightly, especially this one with Riku.

What makes the heart strong is not power. Its what's inside it.

His words haunted her. She didn't understand what he meant by "what's inside it."

What makes the heart strong is not power...

"Get out of my head!" She screamed. She punched the wall next to her. She groaned in irritation.

"Is something troubling you my dear?" Maleficent stepped next to her.

"Mind your own business!" Ayah went into the library and slammed the door. Maleficent merely laughed.

"Next time he's mine!" She said to herself. " I WILL kill him."

Ayah searched through the books they brought back from Radiant Garden. At least this might calm her down.

She came across a book called The Heart, another book with studies of the heart. Ayah squeezed the book in her hands.

Its what's inside…

She screamed, and threw the book at the wall. It landed with a plop when it hit the floor.

Ayah stared at the book. The she slowly went toward it.

She picked up the book and stared to read on the first page she saw.

The heart.

It is one of the world's most mysterious things.

It is said that it is our power, yet it is our curse.

When we're happy, it sends a remarkable feeling of joy.

It sometimes seems that there's not a care in the world.

But when the feeling of despair comes along…

The feeling when everything in your world turns too dark…

You feel alone.

And sometimes give up hope for your future.

She stopped reading and blinked. She could relate to everything it said. She sat down. And started to skim through the pages Intel she found one she thought was interesting.

Some believe that each of us have two hearts.

The one that keeps your blood pumping

And keeps your body running.

That is your body heart.

And the one that holds your feelings, memories, hopes, and dreams…

We call this the inner heart.

It contains the source of everyone's power.

Either light

Or dark…

But this is not what makes the heart strong

It is other things like your feelings.

The love, the faith you have for the people most precious to you.

And the ability to protect them, no matter the danger.

That love gives your heart strength

"I still don't understand." Ayah gritted her teeth. She stood up.

"But I still know more than I did."

She looked out the window. The sky was dark and cloudy, with no signs of any stars.

"_Just like my home…" _She thought.

She pondered for a minute.

"Maybe its time to talk to him, a little bit more…"


	9. An Unfriendly World

_**Authors Note: **__Yay! First Authors note! We'll its been awhile sense I've wrote this. But this story still remains in the heart…I know it sounds corny but its true!_

_Anyway I'm breaking my story up into chapters and finally going to finish it. And holy cow is the a long chapter._

_I also wanted you guys to know that the song Ayah sings is not real. I just made the words up when I was righting this chapter. (I also sometimes start singing it when I'm really bored. XD)_

_And to make sure there's no confusion. Ayah's name is pronounced __**A-Ya **_

As soon as they got back to Radiant Garden, they went back on the Gummi ship. They had to go report to Mickey.

"So Riku, did you really beat her, or were you just lying?" Sora taunted. He loved to get Riku angry.

"Oh, I beat her Sora."

"I'm sure." Sora said sarcastically.

"And how many Darkthorns did you beat?"

"One out of 2."

"None out of 2! Tsk, tsk Sora. Don't let Leon do all the work."

"I said one! Leon got the other."

"I heard you Sora. You said none. Leon got the other."

"I SAID ONE!!"

The whole crew laughed. (Besides Sora!! )

All of a sudden the Gummi Ship hit something and the whole ship shook. The alarms went off.

"What's going on?" Goofy asked.

"Donald went up to the control panel and started to click buttons. All of a sudden the control stick moved forward and Donald grabbed it and tried to pull it back.

"Uh-oh." Donald mumbled.

"What is it?" Sora inquired.

"Something's pulling us in." Sora rushed over to help Donald pull. But the control stick wouldn't budge. Riku and Goofy went over to help.

Kairi, on the other way went over to the window to get a better look. A black mist was below them, and the closer they got, the more Kairi saw what the mist was hiding.

"There's a world down there!"

"It must not be a friendly one if it's dragging us in." Riku announced while trying to pull the control stick.

"Its no use." Said Sora. "Were going down."

The Gummi ship crashed on the strange world. Luckily the ship wasn't a total mess. But it was stuck in the hole it made. Sora and Riku had to break the window to get out. 

"Ouch…that hurt."

"Come on Sora. Gotta be stronger than that if you want to beat a Darkthorn." Riku teased.

"I told you, I said one!" 

"None?"

"EHH!" Sora raised his hands in the air. 

"Can't you guys spend a minute without fighting." Kairi pestered, dusting herself off.

"What is this place anyway?" Sora asked.

"Looks kinda spooky to me." Goofy said. He was stuck in the hole in the window Sora and Riku made. Donald was trying to pull him out. The world was totally dark. The grass seemed dead, and had not sign of life. Sora looked at the sky. It was dark and cloudy, with no signs of any stars, or a moon.

"So what do we do now?" asked Sora. 

"Explore?" Kairi said. Donald finally pulled Goofy out, but got blown away by the force.

"Sounds good." Riku answered.

"How about we rest a bit." Donald panted. 

"We have done a lot today. How about we get some rest then explore?" Sora explained.

"Kairi nodded, then Riku. Donald and Goofy cheered in response.

"Yeah, it must be hard for Sora to run away from Heartless all day." Riku mocked. 

"That's it!" 

Sora jumped on Riku's back, and pulled his ears. Riku retaliated by pulling Sora off his back by grabbing him. But Sora kept on trying to hit Riku.

Ayah watched from a far from a tree, and, to her surprise, laughed. The bond that Riku, and the Keyblade Master had was strong. She'd never seen anything like that before. She envied them. She never had a real friend. She had been casted out ever since she was born. Her mind turned to other things.

"How will I be able to talk to him…" She thought. "I guess I'll just have to wait. But why did they have to come here?" Ayah looked at they cloudy sky above her. "It hasn't changed one bit."

An hour past since they crashed. Donald and Goofy were asleep. And Sora, Kairi, and Riku were playing with the deck of cards Kairi brought. They were playing Crazy Eights.

"Sora your turn." Riku said.

"Umm..." Sora laid down a 5 of clubs.

"Ok…I change to hearts." Kairi laid down a 5 of hearts. Sora groaned. He wasn't any good at playing card games.

Riku placed his last card on the deck. "Looks like I win."

"Do you guys wanna play again?" Kairi asked shuffling the deck.

"No thanks." Sora said waving his arms in the air. Kairi laughed. Riku stood up and dusted off his pants. "I'm gonna go stretch my legs." He started to walk off. 

"Be careful." Kairi warned. Riku waved a hand in the air for a reply.

Riku trudged along the grassy path, not caring where he was going. He just stared at the ground as he walked. "Wonder what Sora and Kairi are doing." Thought Riku. It had been a while since he had left. 

Riku started to notice he was walking up a hill. He then lifted his head up, and started to run. When he reached the top he saw a huge rock was in the middle of a huge plain below the hill Riku was on. It seemed to be a big as him. He ran to it. 

"It a cool place to stop." Riku thought as he approached it. He sat down and leaned his head against it. A warm breeze rushed threw his hair. It felt good. He closed his eyes.

Sweet, Sweet Silence

How I love to have you 

In this world

Riku sat straight up. He looked for the source of the voice. It was soft and beautiful. Where was it coming from?

Sweet, Sweet Silence

How you give me strength

You comfort my heart

In this world,

Today

The voice stopped, Riku still searching.

"Thinking pretty hard, weren't you?"

Riku turned around to find Ayah standing on the rock. She had a gray cloak on. He stepped back, in fighting stance.

"Relax." She raised her hand. "I don't want to fight."

Riku stood up. "Then what are you here for?"

Ayah sighed, and looked away. She stared into the sky of moving clouds. 

What makes the heart strong is not power. Its what's inside it.

"What did you mean by, its what's inside the heart that makes it strong?" She asked without looking away.

Riku was confused, but he answered. "Your feelings, your friends. The things most precious to you."

"I don't have anything like that." 

"What about Maleficent?"

Ayah looked at his face. She saw the ferocity in those ocean green eyes. She felt something inside her flutter. She ignored the feeling and continued her mission.

"She's not a friend."

"Then why are you with her." 

"She's…the only person who understands me."

"I doubt that."

Ayah said nothing. "Why am I telling him this?" She asked herself.

"I'm a demon of the dark. An outcast to my world, and an outcast to my people. I have been exiled from my home. Tell me who else has been through that!"

"Why are you an outcast?"

"I'm a dark being of course."

"I'm not following."

"Dark Beings are people, things who use the darkness. People fear the dark because of its presence. And since its evil's use of power, they think all darkness is evil. So I guess I am evil as well." She jumped off the rock and started to leave.

"Darkness doesn't have to be bad." Riku stated.

Ayah stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Riku. Her red eyes were open, and her face was full of surprise.

"What?"

"Darkness isn't a bad thing unless you choose to make it that way. It's how you use it that determines if it's good of evil."

Ayah stared at him for a long time. Ever since she was born people told her that darkness was nothing but a curse. But this…boy just said something she never thought she'd hear. 

Yells could be heard from across the plain. Riku turned to the sounds to see huge groups of people were walking toward them with pitchforks and torches. 

"So they finally came." Ayah stated.

"What?" Riku looked at her.

"I have to go. Thanks Riku." Ayah opened a dark portal and left with a blink of an eye.

The mob finally reached Riku. "Aw…great." Thought Riku. A man in a white robe 

approached him.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he interrogated.

"My name is Riku. My friends and I got sucked into this world and now we're stuck here."

"So it was him…" And old man announced.

"What?" Riku said forcefully. He wanted to get out of this situation.

"We saw your ship crash. We wondered if it was a beast, or a meteor. Lots of things get sucked up here. But nothing like you." The man in the white robe said. 

"Your ship's crash was big and mighty flashy." An old woman commented. 

"Do you think you can help us?" Riku asked.

"I do not know. It's easy to get here, but to leave is another story. No one has ever left here. It is impossible."

Riku felt a wave of worry wash over him. "How will we ever make it home?" he thought.

"But we will try." 

Riku took a sigh of relief. "Thank-you."

The man in the white robe nodded. "Your welcome. I—

An old man, who looked like a priest came up to the man in the white robe. He whispered something in his ear. The man in white gave Riku an angry look. Riku knew something bad was going to happen.

The man in the white robe snapped his fingers and the mob began to circle around Riku, leaving no place from him to run. A strong muscular man with long jeans and a tank top came from the crowd and threw a pitchfork at Riku. Riku tried to dodge but with the small space given to him, he couldn't go anywhere. It stabbed him in the arm.

Riku screamed in pain. He held his arm and tried to stand still, but it was hard. He reached for the handle of the pitchfork, and ripped it out. He fell to the ground on his knees. His eyesight was getting blurry. The pain was unbearable.

"W-Why…"

"You're a dark being. People like you aren't welcome here. You'll only bring death to us all."

Riku was shocked. How did they know that? Was it obvious? But then he remembered the old priest. He must have been able to sense Riku's dark power. And because of that, now a huge mob was going to kill him. And he was to injured to fight. His arm that he usually held the Keyblade was badly cut. There was nothing he could do.

The muscular man that hit Riku the first time was back, and this time he had a long blade. He raised his arm up for the final blow. Riku put his head down and closed his eyes.

Ayah came out of nowhere and slashed the pitchfork away with her Keyblade. She stood in front of Riku with arms stretched. Riku looked up to face her. Her red eyes were burning with strength.

"Princess Ayah!" the man in the white robe announced. The mob went into a craze of whispers.

"Princess?" Riku inquired. She didn't budge.

"Move." The man in white said with anger.

She still didn't move.

"We sent you out of this world. We don't want your kind here. They are the reason why our world has plunged into darkness."

"But I'm not one of them!"

"But you are. And because of you the heartless took our home."

Ayah said nothing.

"Leave. The only reason your still alive his because of the promise we made to your mother. But that doesn't mean we can't hurt you!" The threat meant nothing to Ayah.

"I'm sure your wondering what's going on Riku." Ayah told Riku.

"You've heard of the Princesses of Heart, have you not?"

Riku said nothing.

"7 maidens of light who have no trace of darkness in there heart. Where do you think the darkness that was suppose to be in their hearts went?" Riku felt a stir in his heart.

"It went into me. That much amount of darkness went into me! I have so much that some people say I am a Heartless with a heart. Some say I don't even have a heart. I used to think that but…"

Ayah looked at Riku.

"We call her the Princess of Darkness." It was the man in the white robe. "She was originally our Princess, that was to protect are Kingdom but we refused to have her."

"Why do you guys hate…the darkness…so much?" Riku asked.

"The Heartless took our home. They went into the Gate of Sanctuary and took the light away from us. The fields used to be covered with flowers, and the farms always grew so much food…" It seemed that the man in the white rope was in a far off place, with his eyes looking at the sky. He shook his head and looked at Riku and Ayah, his eyes full of hate.

"But now, food wont grow. The water is dirty, the animals are dying. The light will never return here and all we have to look forward to is death."

"Gate of Sanctuary?" Riku asked puzzled.

"A gate, which is like the heart of this world. But the Heartless went through it and covered it with darkness. Causing the outside to decay as well."

"Then how about me and my friends go and destroy it?"

"Only dark beings are allowed there now."

"Then I'll go."

"How do we know you'll do it? Any more dark beings that want to destroy the inside of the gate will destroy this world! No, I wont allow it!" He was now yelling in anger. "Even if death is my people's only hope for redemption, I still have faith that someday…we will find the light again. I will find a way. I wont rely on a…demon boy to save us. Even if it DID want to help us."

"The darkness is…nothing to be afraid of." It was getting hard to talk with the horrible pain in his arm. 

"What?!" The man in the white robe looked at him in anger. 

"We're not afraid!" A woman yelled.

"We just hate it! It took our world." A man also spoke up.

"I was told once that light and darkness are equal. They both exist everywhere. Even in the human heart. If you are willing to destroy the darkness, then don't forget to destroy your selves." 

Ayah looked at him in awe. He was pushing his luck with the mob.

"We have more light in our hearts than anyone like you!" It was the priest.

"Do you really believe that? Your hate for… dark beings is darkness. It will devour you Intel there's nothing left. Give me…us a chance."

The man in the white gave Riku a scowl and turned around and started talking to the crowd. 

"You're very persistent." Ayah complimented. 

Riku huffed. "Thanks."

Ayah noticed his bleeding arm.

"Hold still." She took off her cloak and started to ripe a piece off the bottom. "This will only be momentary. Once you get back to the village they'll clean you up." She started to tie the piece of cloth to his arm.

"You're not coming?"

"I'm not welcomed there."

"So? You're here now."

"What difference would it make if I did come?"

"You might save your home."

"What?"

"Come with me into that Gate. I can't do this alone."

"What?"

"I did say us."

"What reason do I have to come? I don't care what happens here!"

"I don't think you mean that."

Ayah turned her head aside. "You don't even know me. And besides you don't even know if they'll even let you go through that gate. Let alone live!"

"Ether way." Riku stood up. "I feel your good inside. No matter who your friends are."

"I told you, there not my…"

"And you saved me." Riku put out his left hand. "Come on."

Ayah didn't know what to do. If she accepted she would have to go through that stupid gate. But if she didn't she might lose her only possible chance of… something else. She didn't know what it was, but a pull inside told her to do it. Ayah slowly started to raise her hand toward his.

"Ok…"

Riku and Ayah both looked at the mob.

"We'll give you a chance. I don't know why but we'll do it."

"Thanks." Riku said. He went to look at Ayah but she had disappeared.

"Where did she…"

"Riku!" 

Riku looked toward the field. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were running toward him. Sora was the first to greet him. He stopped and started to pant.

"How did you…?" Riku started.

"You know that girl, that was with Maleficent. She came to us and said you were in trouble."

"She really does care." Thought Riku as the others started to reach him. 


	10. Going In

The group of people led Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy to the village, which seemed more like a ghost town. There was no sign of life. The streets were empty and the houses were almost as dark as the sky. The candles in the windows were the only sign of light.

"This way." The man in the white robe yelled.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Sora asked. Riku had just got done telling Sora and the others about what had occurred.

"Yeah."

"I don't have a good feeling about this. You don't know what's in that gate." Kairi explained.

"Kairi. It's my duty as a Keyblade bearer, not just Sora's, to protect the worlds."

"I know but…"

"And these people are desperate. We can't just leave them here…then again we can't leave. There's no way to get back home. I think this is our only chance."

"But you'll be all alone Riku. And with your injured arm…"

"Don't worry. If Sora made it through being alone, than I defiantly can."

"Yeah Kai—wait! What's that suppose to mean?" They all laughed. (Besides Sora !!)

Leave it to Sora to lighten up the mood.

"Here he is."

The man in the white robe was leading a young woman toward Riku. She had a blue dress with a white apron on.

"May I see your arm, sir?" she asked politely.

"Call me Riku." Riku held out his arm. She gently untied the gray cloth around his cut.

"That was a good idea wrapping the wound up like that. It helped stop the bleeding"

"Uh…yeah."

"So, how was Ayah, Riku?" Sora smirked. Riku gave him a glare.

"Was she nice? Pretty? Cool? Smart?"

"You are so dead the second she lets go of my arm." Riku warned. The woman put her hand over her mouth and giggled.

After the woman bandage Riku's arm, the man in the white robe led the group across town. The closer they got to the Far East side of town, they could start to see a huge castle, but it was tattered and old. No one seemed to live there.

"Wow." Kairi exclaimed when she saw the castle.

"That castle was the kingdom of Princess Ayah and her mother. But when the heartless came, the queen tried to stop them. But… she died."

"Poor Ayah." Goofy said.

"She was only 5 when it happened. She didn't know her mother very well. It doesn't matter to her."

"You say that as if she was some dog to her." Riku commented. The man in the white robe gave him sour glance then kept walking.

The group finally came up to a large door in the field. It was a shinny black with a fence like door. The inside was white.

"Sure looks spooky." Goofy quaked.

"Why do they call it the Gate of Sanctuary?" Kairi inquired.

The man in the white robe looked to the gate. "It is said, that it is the heart of our world. Our Queen said that when the time comes, it would bring us Eternal Light. But now one knows what she means by that."

"So, umm…" Sora started.

"Jonathan." The man in the white robe corrected.

"Ok. Jonathan, how long do you think it will take Riku to get in there and come back?"

"No one's ever been in there before. It's unpredictable."

Sora gave a sigh. "What am I suppose to do while I wait for you?"

"Play cards? Riku teased.

"Very funny."

Riku laughed. "Don't worry Sora, I'm sure you and Kairi can think of something."

"Yeah, I guess." Sora looked at Kairi.

"Excuse me, sir!"

It was the young woman that bandaged Riku's arm. "Here." She gave him a leather bag. "It has bandages and ointment in it. It will help your wound heal faster."

Riku nodded his head thank you.

"It might be hard to put it on alone though…" The woman said.

"He wont be."

A dark portal came out of nowhere. People in the village started to yell and mumble everywhere. Ayah stepped out. She had a large bag under her arm.

"Princess Ayah." Jonathan yelled. Some bowed while some just stared.

"I'm going with you."

"What changed your mind?"

"Nothing else better to do." She shrugged.

Riku let out a huff. "Then lets go." They both started to walk toward the gate. The closer they got to it, the more the doors opened.

Riku looked behind him to look at Sora and Kairi one last time. They both waved but they were still worried. Riku nodded and then he and Ayah headed in.

"Hey Riku!" Sora yelled. "You two be good in there!"

Out of the gate, came a rock heading right toward Sora. It hit him in the leg. "Oww!" Sora held his leg.

The villagers started to laugh.


	11. Aside Other Things

**Authors Note:** _I want to mention that when I first wrote the story I was using a different computer. So I never had spell check. (_

_So If you see a lot of misspelled words that's why. I just thought of that and now 'm correcting them. Sorry! I don't think its that bad though._

Ayah watched as Riku threw a rock between the gate's doors right before they closed. She heard Sora yell in pain and the villager's laughter.

"He is even MORE dead the second I get out of this place." Riku grumbled. Ayah smirked.

Riku looked at her.

She quickly shook off the smile and started looking through her bag.

"So where are we suppose to go?" asked Riku. Ayah pointed to the end of the horizon. At the end was the only sign of a sky, and also a huge star. "We have to go to that light."

"How do you know?"

Ayah took out a book from her bag. "This." She threw it to Riku, which he caught. "Some explorer decided to come into the gate before all the heartless took over. He wrote about his journey in that book."

"But Jonathan told me no one came in here."

Ayah shrugged. "When you're a princess, you have a lot coming to you. No one besides me and my mother has read that book."

Riku said nothing. Instead, he observed his surroundings. The ground was covered with snow, but the air was warm as the air outside. Dead trees scattered the area. The sky was as dark as the one outside.

"Does Maleficent know you're gone?" Riku asked.

"No."

"She'll probley come after you." Riku asked as they started to walk.

"Probley."

"You seem calm."

"She's nothing if you know her weaknesses."

"And you're willing to destroy her?"

Ayah sighed. "For the last time, she's not my friend. I don't care about her, and besides. She's only using me. Being nice is her way to reel me in."

"She did that with me."

Ayah paused for a moment. Why am I doing this? She thought.

"I want to hear your side of the story, when you were with Maleficent."

"Why?" Riku asked. He had a feeling she still hated him.

"One, it will make the trip go faster. Two, we don't have anything better to do." Riku looked at her and shook his head. _"Typical."_

"And three…" She started. "I…always thought you were weak. But I'm not so sure now." Riku nodded, a little shocked by the compliment.

So Riku told the story about how he opened the door to darkness, and how he tried to destroy Sora. It actually took a lot of time, too. By the time he was done, the door was out of sight.

"So Xehanort's heartless took your body and you lost your heart."

"Yeah." Riku said. "Guess my heart was weak."

Ayah shook her head no. Riku looked at her puzzled.

"Since you let him into your heart, it doesn't matter how strong your heart is. And besides, you stopped him from hurting your friends."

"That does make since." Thought Riku. He was surprised how easy it was to talk with her about it. He usually felt ashamed, but it felt good to talk with it with someone. Someone who wasn't in the light.

"What about you?" Riku dared to ask. "I remember Jonathan saying to you that it was your fault that the heartless came."

Ayah was silent for a moment, but then she started to talk. "Ever since I was born I brought nothing but pain for my people." Riku looked at her.

"Everywhere I went I brought heartless along with me, because I've been so blessed to be the Princess of Darkness. And because of that all the villagers grew to hate me. Only my mother truly cared for me. Even when the heartless took many of the villager's hearts she still loved me." Ayah then realized how much she had said. This was the first time she talked about it with someone. She needed to stop this now.

"But whatever. It doesn't matter anymore."

Trying not to move her head, she looked at Riku in the corner of her eye. He looked ahead, not showing any emotion.

**A lot like you, huh?**

Ayah shook her head. "_These voices in my head are killing me._" She thought. She raised her head to the sky. Of course there was nothing there. The dark clouds rolled by, bringing a warm breeze along with it. Ayah closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, then looked at Riku. His covered ocean green eyes fixed on her. It was hard to tell because of his bangs. "Why is he so nice to me? Ayah asked herself. "It doesn't matter what he does, he'll leave anyway. He'll only break my heart." Ayah then noticed Riku's arm. The bandage had red spots on it. "He must be pushing himself." Thought Ayah. She sighed, and then walked over to him.

"What she doing?" Riku thought. He watched as she walked closer to him. Her red eyes fixed on him. When she reached him, she immediately grabbed his bandaged arm and examined it.

"Are you running a fever?"

"No."

"Liar." Ayah could see drops of sweat on his face. She put her hand on his forehead. It was burning hot.

"You are running a fever. Your pushing yourself to hard." Riku said nothing.

She took out the book. "We're almost to the rest stop." She said looking through the pages. "Think you can make it?"

"Yeah." Riku nodded.

"Good." she started to walk.


	12. A Change of Scenery

It seemed about a half an hour before they finally reached the rest stop. Ayah pointed. "That's it."

A huge dead tree, with huge branches that formed a spiral above it, sat on the cold snowy ground. Riku was astonished of how big it was.

"This way."

Ayah pointed to a hole beside two roots. "You first." Riku headed in.

The inside was of course hallow. They were in the sphere the branches made. Some cracks could be seen. Riku made a sigh of relief. It was finally time to stop.

Truth was, he wasn't feeling good. His fever was to the point where it was unbearable, and his arm was hurting really bad. He sat down in a corner of the room and closed his eyes. The atmosphere was perfect. It was warm, but cold.

A sudden noise made Riku open them. Ayah's bag slid across the room, and landed with a plunk across Riku. Ayah came climbing in through the hole.

She stood up and ran to the bag. She searched though it and took out an apple. "Here." She threw it to Riku, which he caught with one hand. "Thanks." He started to eat the apple.

Ayah kept her distance and sat down near her bag. "What's your home called?" Ayah asked while munching on her apple.

"Destiny Island."

"You live on an island?"

"Yeah."

Ayah sighed. "I've never been to the ocean."

"I'll have to bring you there sometime."

"Maybe.." Ayah said hesitating. She then remembered.

"How's your arm."

Riku looked down at his bandaged. "It hurts a little, but I'm ok."

"We'll have to put some of that stuff on tomorrow." Ayah said laying down.

"Yeah." Riku replied also laying down.

They both feel asleep. Each in the corner of the room.

* * *

The atmosphere was still the same when Riku finally woke up. He slowly opened his eyes to find that it was still dark out. Wasn't it always?

He looked to see Ayah was still sleeping. She had her head rested on her bag, arms stretched out on the floor. Her eyes were completely closed and she seemed to be in a peaceful sleep. A few strands of hair slid across her face. Riku smiled, and begun to sit up.

While he was sitting up, he made the mistake of using his injured arm to help him. He instantly feel right back down. He gritted his teeth in anger. It hurt even more than it did yesterday, but at least his fever was gone. Riku looked to see if he awakened Ayah, but he didn't.

Out of frustration, Riku ripped of the bandaged. His arm felt hot, and it needed air. As he undid the last bandage, he saw his cut did not scab over. He cradled his arm in his other hand. The pain was excruciating.

He sat there, thinking. It had just crossed his mind that he might not be able to do this. His injured arm seemed to get worse, not better. But he couldn't turn back now. For one the villager's would probley kill him, and Sora wouldn't let him live it down.

An besides, he also wanted to do it for Ayah. It seemed to him that if he didn't stop it now that she would be going down a road she couldn't escape even if there was a small chance she wanted to. Hatred had burned throughout her heart, and she lived by it too. She wasn't willing to trust anyone. He could tell by the treatment he got from her. But deep down, he knew she had some light in her. She came with him after all, even if she said there wasn't there had to be a reason why she did. Did she want respect from her people? Or is she trying to pull a fast one of Riku and kill him? He didn't know, but he had a feeling he would soon.

"What's wrong?"

Riku looked over toward Ayah. She was sitting up, her red eyes were fixed on him.

Before Riku could answer, Ayah crawled over next to him. She examined the arm without touching it.

"Leave your arm out for a while. The air will help it scab." Ayah explained.

"How did you know so much?" Riku asked.

"I read a lot." Ayah said putting stuff back into her bag. "Are you well enough to go?"

"Yeah." Riku said trying to ignore the pain. To make matters worse he could feel the fever coming back. But he had to do this. Riku stood up, this time without using his arms. By the time he stood up, Ayah was ready to go.

It was a hours of waking for them. They never really spoke a word to each other, which was good for both of them because they both had things on their mind.

They stopped when they came across a bottomless pit. Floating rocks were their only way across, and the way seemed endless.

"Well, THIS is perfect." Ayah said sarcastically.

"How long does it go?" asked Riku. Ayah was already searching through the book. "The author said about 3 miles. Or a little more."

"Well, now or never."

"Yeah."

"You first."

Ayah, a little uneasy, started walking toward the first stone. She jumped, and or course she landed. She looked at the bottom, which was useless because there was nothing. She sighed with boredom and started to walk. Riku not far behind.

Riku's head was bursting with pain. He wanted to stop and rest, but he forced himself to keep on going. He was relieved that his arm was feeling better though.

"You and the Keyblade master seem pretty close." Ayah remarked while walking.

"Yeah."

"How did the two of you first meet?" "Not that I care." Thought Ayah. "I'm just bored."

"As long as I can remember." Riku stated.

"Figures." Thought Ayah. "What about the girl?"

"Kairi? Ever since she washed up on the island." Ayah gave Riku a look of confusion.

"After her world got taken over, she washed up on shore back home. Later on, me and Sora befriended her. We were all going to explore other worlds on a raft, but of course that all changed when we all got separated. Sora found the Keyblade, Kairi lost her heart, and I was being controlled by a witch and the darkness." He shook his head in disgust.

"Maleficent said something about you being desperate on finding her heart. That you were very protective of her." Ayah stated, now interested in the subject.

Riku laughed. "I was."

She suddenly had the urge to ask him if he had feeling for her. She tried pushing the feelings away, but they came back up, pushing away her train of thought.

"And because of that, me and Sora fought."

"You, lost right?"

"…yeah."

Ayah couldn't resist anymore.

"Do you love her?" She was flustered with herself for asking.

Riku was silent for a moment then answered. "I did."

"Did?"

"It would never happen."

The urge finally gave up, but she still was intrigued.

"What do you mean? Not good enough for you?"

Riku ignored the slam. "She…already has someone else in mind."

"Who?"

Riku waved his hand in the air. "I'm not telling." It was his way of getting back at her.

Ayah thought for a moment. Lucky for her she was smart, and good at figuring out stuff. "It's the keyblade master isn't it?"

Riku said nothing.

"It is him! I should have known. Maleficent said something about it. She said when you lost to him, he won her heart."

"Boy was she wrong!"

"Then what happened?"

"I dunno."

How Ayah hated when people hid information. It was like a cliffhanging book. She groaned with irritation.

"Kairi's heart was already within Sora."

"What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said."

"Can you be serious for once!"

"I am. Kairi is one of the princesses of light, so she cant be turned into a heartless. Her heart went into Sora because he was the closest. So when I lost to Sora, he used the dark keyblade I had to unlock her heart. Ever since then they've became close."

"But that's impossible! He should have turned into a Heartless."

"He did."

"But he's still here."

"Exactly why he's the Keyblade Master."

"But…"

Ayah couldn't finished her sentence. Heartless appeared around them, even in the air where Riku and Ayah couldn't go. "Great…" thought Riku. They both summoned their keyblades and started to attack.

Ayah used two of her fire boomerangs to attack the 2 NeoShadows in front of her. They both vanished instantly, but three more jumped in their place. She groaned and leaped toward them, and with 3 swipes destroyed them. Four more rose up to fight.

Riku on the other hand, was having a hard time. His arm was starting to hurt again so he couldn't use his keyblade like he usually did, and on top of that his fever made it hard to go on. He hardly had enough strength to use Dark Aurora, so he just had to use whatever he could to get the battle over with.

He leaped out of the way of the attacking NeoShadows, and then used Dark Aurora. The Heartless flinched for a minute, but then gained their stature and kept creeping closer toward Riku.

Riku, using some strength, ran toward them and with one slash the Heartless vanished. Four more took their place.

"He cant go on much longer." Thought Ayah. "He's already pushing himself to the limit, if he pushes himself anymore he'll faint." She pushed away her feeling of sympathy. "What do I care. He's not my friend. I don't know why I even bother to come…"

Maybe because you really want someone to understand you…

She ignored the voice in back of her mind, shaking her head. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I will always be alone. No one can ever understand me."

Two NeoShadows arose from the ground.

"If he dies, he dies. He never cared for me."

She could feel the darkness in her heart racing throughout her body. She raised her keyblade and made a huge white boomarang. They instantly vanished.

"There." She thought. "Loneliness is my only power..."

"Ayah behind you!"

The voice was Riku.

Five NeoShadows piled on top of her. She tried to keep her balance, but it couldn't be helped. She fell of the rock, into the bottomless canyon.

"AYAH!"


	13. Why!

_She tried to be nice to the little girl, she asked so politely to play with her…_

_But it was futile._

_From the gossip from the adults, she had heard many things about the dark princess. Making her afraid to even look at her. _

"_No! Get away from me you monster!" he started to run._

_Anger filled her heart. Darkness surrounded her and a heartless, a Large Body for that matter, appeared out of nowhere. _

_Ayah released it was happening again. She raised her arm for the Heartless to stop._

"_Wait! Stop! Go Away." _

_But the Heartless lunged forward toward the girl. She screamed in fear and buried her head in her arms._

_A blast of light shot across the street, making the heartless stop in it's tracks, disappearing. _

_Footsteps inched closer._

_A woman with long, dark, black hair kneeled toward the girl. She had a long white dress on with gold, and long sleeves that even covered her hands. She had a crown on._

"_Are you okay?" She asked calmly. _

_The girl looked at her, and nodded. Then she looked behind her and glanced at Ayah one last time and started to run off._

"_I'm sorry…I didn't mean too—"_

_The woman looked at her with the most understanding eyes. "I know you didn't dear. Someday you'll be able to control your powers. For now you'll just have to get used to them." She started to walk closer the her._

"_Why…"_

_The woman stopped, and looked at the little girl_

"_Why did you save her?"_

"_Why did I save her? My dear, Ayah, what do you mean? I couldn't have let her die."_

"_But…you risked your life too save people every day because of me. How? I don't understand."_

_The woman smiled. Ayah always asked question beyond her understanding. She walked closer to her._

"_When you truly care for someone you will stop at nothing to protect them. Because you cant imagine life without them."_

"_I've…never felt anything like that."_

"_What would you do if I was going to be killed?"_

_Ayah stared at her. She couldn't imagine anything like that to happen. _

"_Oh…"._

"_I care not just for myself and my family, but for my people. Because they are my family."_

_Ayah nodded slowly "I think I see…"_

"_When the time comes you will understand." She placed her soft hand on her head. It brought comfort to Ayah._

"_Thank you…mother."_

Riku held onto Ayah's hand for dear life. He got to her just in the nick of time before she was beyond his reach.

Ayah stared at the bottomless pit, which was much more frightening now since she almost fell into it, then looked up at Riku. His teeth were clenched and his ocean green eyes were right on her. Sweat was covered all over his face.

It crossed her mind that they might be in trouble. If Heartless attacked them, they both would fall. She looked up. The Heartless were gone. "How on earth did that happened?" She thought. "He couldn't have…"

Something wet dripped upon her arm that Riku was holding. It made her tingle. She looked up to see what it was.

It was blood.

Riku's cut had opened. He was using his bad arm to hold her! Ayah couldn't believe it. After all the things she had done, after all the things she had thought and said, why did this boy help her. He was the second person in the world that had ever saved her.

Riku groaned in pain, and then lifted her up to the top. As soon as she touched the rocks, and Riku let go, she cradled her arm. It had a few drops of Riku's blood on it. She looked at him.

He was breathing heavily. He was sitting on a rock, and examining his arm. It must have really hurt. She could see the sweat on his body, and he looked like he could pass out any moment. He looked at her.

"Are you…all right?" Riku noticed the way she was looking at her.

She seemed like she was going to cry any moment, and she was staring at him with an expression of surprised and shock. She stood up.

"Why…"

Riku looked at her.

"Why did you save me!" Ayah yelled.

"What's wrong with her?" Riku asked himself.

"You don't know me, yet you continue to show me kindness, after I return you with anger. You should hate me. I'm darkness! Always will be. So why do you insist on helping me?" she was in a fit of rage.

Riku looked away and let out a chuckle.

"What is so funny?!" Ayah yelled. " I ask you! Please be as so kind to tell me why you are laughing!"

"You blame yourself to much."

"What…" She snapped. Ayah stared at him as he struggled to get up.

"You need to move forward and forget the past. No matter how much you might want it, it wont change."

Her eyes widened.

"Move forward. Like I did."

Ayah looked away from him. Instead, she looked at the blood on her arm. She for some reason did not whip it off, and treated it as if it were a prize possession. She held her arm with her hand. Still not looking at Riku, she answered. "What happens if theres nothing to look forward too?" Riku looked at her. It was the first time he had ever seen her sad.

"I've heard that if you don't have a purpose in life that you are dead. That its meaningless to live without a reason to. All of my reasons have vanished. My mother I have no friends, my people hate me, I don't even have a home…" It looked like she was going to cry at any momment.

"Then let that be your purpose." Riku suggested. "Finding a purpose in life."

She looked at him. His green eyes full of sympathy.

"What's yours…your purpose for living." She looked away again.

"My friends are my purpose."

"It must be nice…to have friends."

"Ayah." Ayah looked at him. He was holding out his hand. "I'm your friend."

Ayah was motionless for a moment. She couldn't believe what was going on. She had let her guard down in front of him. Letting him into her thoughts. What had happened to her? Where was the strong, lonely, girl named Ayah that never let anyone close to her. She had failed to stop herself with Riku. She knew that eventually he would leave. She couldn't stop it. All the people she was close to would ether die or abandon her. That's why she taught herself to be alone. It was useless to have friends. But now, she had a feeling of longing. She wanted this. She wanted a friend. All because of Riku, her emotions had changed.

"I don't know what will occur but…" Ayah thought she was now looking at Riku. "I'll see what will happen. I feel like this could actually be something great." Ayah reached for him hand. "Something new."

Nothing could stop it now.

She grasped his warm hand. He pulled her while he started to walk.

"Lets go."

"Wait! Do you want me to bandage your arm?" Ayah asked.

"Let's wait until we get to land."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He smiled at her as they let go of each others hand.

As soon as they saw the first sign of land, they started to run.

Riku's arm felt like it was going to fall off, and it had started to bleed again. His fever had also gotten worse.

Ayah jumped off the rock and onto the snowy ground. She looked around for any sign of life. There wasn't. Just empty spaces of snow and rock. And with a few dead trees.

Riku fell against the cold snow. It cooled down his body, and it helped to ease the fever. His arm started to bleed again.

"Riku!" she knelt toward him and started to search through her bag. He was now breathing with his mouth.

"I'm going to…go to sleep now." He breathed. His voice sounded like his throat was sore.

"No Riku, wait!" She started to shake his gently. "I have medicine for you, but you have to take it with food. I'll have to cook it so wait till then. Then you can sleep as much as you want. Ok?"

It took Riku a while to respond. "Ok…" he said quietly. Ayah wasted no time. She knew Riku would put up a good fight against his body.

She took out her pan and the food. Then looked around to find some fire food. She found a nearby dead tree and ran to it. She broke off the branches and ran back to Riku.

When the firewood was staked up she then got out her keyblade and used fire. The wood bursted into flames.

She started to build a pot holder, so she could place the pot above the fire to heat up the food. After she was done, she placed snow into the pot and then started to cut up the vegetables, herbs, and meat. While she waited for the food to be cooked, she was going to bandage Riku's arm.

"Riku." She said gently. "Can I see your arm?"

Riku struggled to sit up, but failed. He then tried to roll over without damaging his arm.

Ayah took out a cloth and put some liquid into it. "This might sting a little." She placed it on the wound. Riku jerked with pain, but then motioned Ayah to continue.

"By the way." Ayah started. "Thanks…for saving me." She wasn't good with being sincere,

Riku looked at her.

"No problem." he softly said.

After cleaning the wound, Ayah then put the cream the woman gave him onto a bandage. She softly put it on his wound. Then she bandaged him up.

"There." Riku nodded slowly

Ayah walked toward the food and stared to stir. Then she reached into her bag and took out a wooden bowl. She then applied some seasoning to it, and then walked toward Riku.

"This soup as special herbs in it." Riku tried to sit up, this time succeeding. "This will break down the fever." She handed the bowl to Riku.

Riku nodded. It was getting harder and harder to speak, so he didn't say anything.

Ayah then headed back toward her bag.

He took a sip of the soup. Expecting a taste of medicine he found the soup delicious. It warmed his body up, but in a good way. He could feel the fever breaking down.

As soon as he was done, Ayah again was right by his side. Waiting to tell him the next step.

"Can you stand?" She asked. Riku nodded and stood up, but just barely. The soup already had an effect.

She lead him toward the fire onto some blankets. He laid down on them, they were soft, and had a scent that made you feel at home. He would was ready to go to sleep, but use the rest of his strength to do only one thing.

"Thank you Ayah…" He manage to say before he finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**Authors Note: **_A change of heart in Ayah. I like writing about her when she's nice. Even though I feel like my writing stinks. I was 13 when I wrote this. (I'm 15) So I've done some editing. But not a lot. Hopefully people like it! _


	14. A New Atmosphere

Riku woke up to new smells, and a new atmosphere.

Even though he was awake, he kept his eyes closed. His head felt dizzy and he had a hard time remembering the past events. Half of him was expecting to wake up in his room in Destiny Island. A wave of homesickness wavered through his body.

He finally recalled what had happened. Maleficent return, meeting Ayah, the strange world, The Gate of Sanctuary, Ayah, and they're conversation

"I wonder if she trusts me now." Riku wondered to himself. He then turned his mind to other things.

He noticed that his arm didn't hurt, but he didn't look at it. He also noticed that his fever was gone too. "Looks like Ayah's medicine worked." Riku thought.

He then heard a beautiful tune being sung.

Riku opened his eyes and looked at Ayah. She was bending over the pot. Preparing it with seasoning, while singing.

Sensing movement, Ayah faced Riku. As soon as she saw he was awake, she turned her head again.

"Where did you learn to sing like that?" Riku asked. He was thankful his voice was better than he felt. His lungs felt ruff.

"I guess…from my mother." She was so embarrassed. She only sang when she was bored, and usually then she never really realized she was singing.

"Were you close to her?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry."

She turned around to face him. "Don't be. Move on, right?" Ayah smiled. Riku, shocked to see a smile, nodded.

"How long have I been out?" Riku asked laying back down.

"Well…" She thought out loud. "Its hard to tell time from here. But from my estimation I would say about… one in a half days.

"_One and a Half_!" Riku screamed inside his brain. He sat right up, and started to stand.

"Ah!"

Ayah pushed him right back down. "First you need to eat, then we'll check your arm. Besides, push yourself anymore and you'll get a fever again." She then ran over to the pot.

Riku held his head in his hands. "_How could I let myself do this_!" He thought. "_One and a half days_…" He shook his head.

"Here."

Ayah handed him a bowl of stew, which he gratefully accepted.

"Sorry about that." Riku said.

"Don't be. It's not like being alone bothers me." Riku huffed and took a bite of the stew. They ate the rest of their meal in silence.

"How dare she leave me!"

Maleficent was furious. No longer sensing Ayah from anywhere in the castle, she checked herself to see if she was in her room. Finding only a note saying she had left, and might not be coming back.

"I told ya that girl was no good!" Pete fumed. He was glad she was gone. Now Maleficent would pay more attention to him now.

"Just leave her. Your better off without her!"

"Enough!" Pete ears went down, and he shrank in fear.

"Someone with that much power can't be dropped like a mere toy…she has yet to learn her true potential." She started to walk toward her chamber.

"I don't see why she so important. She just a kid."

"She's the princess of Darkness, Pete."

"Princess of Darkness?"

"Yes. The one who is cursed with the darkness of the 7 Maidens of Light. The darkness that is suppose to be there…went into her."

"That's… a lot of darkness." Pete said in awe.

"Yes. Exactly why we cannot lose her."

She headed into her chamber.

Maleficent walked into the room, Intel she faced a pot of water. Waving her hands it reveled a picture…of Ayah walking, along side with Riku.

"Riku?!" She said in awe…. then she started to laugh.

"My two pawns together…this is a treat. For now I will watch until the time comes I must make my move."


	15. Thanks to You

Riku could never be happier.

For the first time in 3 days his arm was not hurting. And there was no sign of a fever coming back either. He finally had all of his strength back. And it was all thanks to her.

And to add to that, he made a breakthrough to Ayah. She smiled more often then she did before, she was much more open to him, and she was always making sure that his arm was ok. If he didn't know better he would have thought she was a different person.

Won't Sora be happy? He thought…he knew Sora would tease him about this later.

Thinking of way to pummel Sora when he got back, Ayah turned around and looked at him.

"What are you smiling about?" She asked.

"It's a secret. But you'll find out when we get back."

She smiled. "Your optimistic."

"What do you mean?"

"Your so sure that we'll make it out alive."

"We'll the author of that book did."

"…Well."

"He didn't?"

"Here's the thing, this is before I was even born. And I think this was just around the time my mother was pronounced Queen. No one before him ever dared to venture in here because they thought it would only lead to their death. But the author decided it would be best if they could figure out the gate to better understand the world. So he wrote down everything he saw, went through, in this book."

"So why do you say he didn't return? How would you ever get the book if he didn't?"

"The last page is ripped out."

"What?"

"As long as I can remember I never finished the book because of the missing page. And as for how we got the book…I don't know."

"Did you ever ask your mother who he was?"

"Yes…but she said she didn't know either. No one does."

"Does it explain why it's called the Gate of Sanctuary?"

Ayah took out the book and skimmed to the end of the book.

"Here."

Riku grabbed it, and read.

_It has been 2…2 long weeks but I have finally found it! The glowing star above this place...I've finally found it!_

_But! This is no star, my dear reader. It is more special than a star. _

_As I write this down, I am standing in front of a statue of some sort. With an enormous Keyhole…but what does this unlock? I have no idea. But more importantly is the thing upon the keyhole, a crystal like bud sits_

_It's beautiful. But what is its purpose? _

_Hold on. I've found something!_

_Behind the statue is some sort of writing. _

_For Eternal Light…to come upon thee_

_Cast Darkness aside…and defeat Sin_

_Then shall thee unlock true happiness…_

_Finding Eternal Light…_

_These words puzzle me…eternal light? Our world is already blooming with light no darkness can take…or can it? I will push these thoughts somewhere else…_

_As for the star…it is so special because of its shape. It looks just like a Golden Heart. _

_But the strange thing is…there is some type of force field around this heart. It is invisible to the naked eye…but these strange dark entities…for what I heard are called Heartless, try to attack the heart. A moving sphere is seen around the heart, and the dark being vanishes._

_For that, I come to realize this sphere is some type of force field, and this Golden Heart…is the heart of this world._

_There are other things here that are peculiar. Like behind the statue is a—_

As Riku turned the page…he found edges of torn paper.

_The missing page_…He thought.

"Who, or what ever ripped that part out…didn't want anyone know what was behind the statue." Ayah announced.

Riku nodded.

"The keyblade should be able to unlock that keyhole." said Riku.

"I thought so too."

Riku looked at her. "And you didn't tell me this before why?"

She shrugged. "I hated you then."

Riku chuckled.

"Anyway, we'll worry about it when we get there." Ayah said turning her gaze toward the light in the sky. Riku did too.

"Doesn't look like we're any closer." Riku mumbled.

"Don't tell me that optimism run out already." Ayah teased as she grabbed the book from Riku hands.

"Not a chance."

"Good." She smiled at him. And with that, they started to walk again.

_I can't get over that she's smiling he thought. _Riku thought._ But…looking at her now, something seems familiar about her… but what?_

He stared at her.

Ayah turned around.

"Hey Riku—

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Riku shook his head from the trance.

"Its nothing…"

Ayah still confused shook her head. "Ok…As I was saying how old are you?"

"16."

"Ah."

"Why?"

"Just curious. You look older."

"How older?"

Ayah put her hands on her chin, as if to be in deep thought.

"21."

"21!?"

"Yeah! The white hair tip me off."

"Oh, you're a hoot."

"I know."

"And how old are you?"

"16. Same as you."

"Ah."

"What? How old did u think I was?"

Riku put his hands on his chin, mocking Ayah.

"12."

Ayah gasped and punched him in the arm. "Your such a jerk."

"I know."

They laughed.

Ayah stopped, and looked off into the distance. "I've…never done this before."

Riku looked at her, and followed her eyes.

"I've…never had a friend before. I don't know the last time I've laughed. Let alone smiled."

"Do you like it?" Riku asked.

She looked at him, and nodded.

"Yes… I do. For the first time ever, I'm…happy."

Riku put his hand on the top of her head. "Good. I'm glad you are." He took his hand off and continued to walk.

Ayah's hand slowly moved up to her head and landed on top of her head, where Riku's hand left. She smiled.

_And it's all thanks to you…Riku _

She started to run after him.

"A smile?"

Maleficent was both furious…and amused. Ayah had totally changed. And in Maleficent case, for the worst.

"I'll defiantly have to do something about this."

She waved her hand over the pot.

"I will get her back. Even if I have to destroy Riku in the process."


	16. Alot Alike

**Authors Note:** _I am so, soooo sorry people! How long has it been sense an update? A long freakin time that's how long!! I'm sorry to say I had writers block. But I've learned to sometimes to overcome it is to just sit down a write!_

_So I'm now working on finishing this story. Ayah is a character that I just can't forget about. I absolutely love her and the things that I have in store for her you will see why._

_Anyway, I want to thank the 4 reviews that commented my story. They may only be 4, but they encouraged me to keep writing. _

_Now I'll shut up so you can read )_

A while after their conversation, they came upon a change of scenery.

A brick road laid ahead of them, along with dead trees on each side. Covering as far as the eye could see left and right. Leaving them no choice but to follow the path, which seemed to go on quite a ways.

"This is weird." Riku said. He looked at Ayah.

"Should we go through?" Ayah was skimming through the book.

"Yeah... it seems there was no danger when the author walked through it."

"Ok. Let go then."

Ayah hesitantly nodded.

They only took a few steps before they heard a slight noise. Ayah stopped suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Riku asked.

"Umm…" Ayah squinted her eyes as if there was something she could not see.

"Did you just see that tree move?"

Riku looked behind him at the large dead tree. The only sign of movement was the branches swaying from the wind.

"It was probley just the wind…plus your imagination." Riku teased.

She groaned, and pushed Riku a little before walking again.

Walking through, they both felt something was off. But they couldn't quite place it.

Trying to ease the worry Ayah thought it might be good to start a conversation.

"Hey Riku, where did u get your keyblade?"

Riku thought for a moment. " I guess it was after Ansem the Wise's Machine exploded. The darkness in my heart disappeared, so I can use the Keyblade now. My weapon, Soul Eater changed."

"Soul Eater?"

"Maleficent gave it to me."

"Oh."

"Where did you get yours?"

"Maleficent…helped me find it. When we first meet, she was trying to edge me onto her side. Baiting me into accepting…"

_Maleficent raised her hand out toward Ayah._

"_Come child. For I will teach you everything you want to know."_

_Ayah stood there. Not moving._

"_Why do you want me to come with you? As powerful as you lead on to be, you need someone like me? Pathetic."_

_Maleficent nearly laughed._

"_As powerful as I am, I still need more power. With you by my side I can take the worlds with only a sway of my hand."_

_Ayah merely just stared at her. Still unconvinced._

"_Fine. I will just have to show you what I can do for you."_

_She stepped beside Ayah._

"_Close your eyes."_

"_Why should I?"_

"_Aren't you the least bit interested in what I have to offer."_

"…_fine."_

"_Now, close your eyes."_

_Ayah obeyed._

"_Feel the darkness in your heart. Burning, moving. Can you feel it?"_

_Ayah said nothing._

"_Reach out to it. Call to it."_

_Ayah stood in the darkness, all alone. _

_With closed eyes, she listened for the slightest sigh of sound._

_There was nothing._

_But she could since a power, coming toward her. Burning and moving rapidly._

_She raised her hand._

_And grasped something._

"Well done child. You have found your weapon."

"Your Keyblade?"

"Uh-huh."

"We are alike."

Ayah looked at him.

"What do you mean."

"We both have been tempted by the darkness, controlled by and evil witch, and we both have done things we're not proud off."

"True. But there is a difference between us."

Riku looked at her.

Ayah stopped. "Only one of us, can never go back to the light."

Riku turned toward her.

"Why cant you."

"Why? You should know more than anyone that darkness is something that can never fade away that easily. And my darkness is something I was born into. I cant get rid of it. Besides…"

She looked up. And started to walk off.

"The light will never accept me."

Riku opened is mouth the say something, but then heard a noise. Ayah stopped and turned around.

"What was that?" Ayah said nervously.

They both looked around, trying to find the source. But then something happened.

Riku noticed a huge branch, moving towards Ayah quickly.

"Look out!"

Ayah looked at Riku, and then behind. Noticing the branch advancing toward her. She put up her arms to shield her face.

Riku acted fast. He ran toward Ayah and grabbed her. Taking her out of the way of the branch. They slid against the pavement, rolling over each other.

The tree, with it roots and branches thrashed about, trying to hit Ayah and Riku. But they were too far away for it to hit.

Ayah moved herself off the pavement and looked at Riku. "Told you!" .

Riku looked at her and then noticed that another tree was getting ready to strike.

"We gotta move!" Riku yelled.

Getting up quickly, Ayah and Riku ran jumping and dodging the tree. But only then noticed that all of the trees in front of them were also alive! And getting ready for them. They were already thrashing their branches on the stone path, leaving cracks and dents.

"This cant get any worse!" Ayah sighed.

All of a sudden, Gargoyle heartless appeared out of nowhere.

Ayah stared at them and then shook her head.

"Come on!" Riku yelled, running.

With a Branch advancing toward him, Riku drew out his keyblade. He did a back flip to avoid the branch. Then jumped on it. Running up, he advanced toward the Gargoyle heartless. He jumped, and slashed the heartless. But only to have more appear.

"Riku, its useless." Ayah was throwing her white boomerangs at the heartless, destroying them. Then more took their place. "We have to run!"

Defending himself with the keyblade, Riku slash the other Heartless.

"I wish we could. But the Heartless wont let us." Riku then noticed a branch coming toward him.

"Whoa!" He ducked in the nick of time.

Instead of hitting Riku, the branch hit Ayah. Which sent her flying into another tree. Her back landed which a crack on the iron hard bark.

"Ayah!" Riku yelled.

Struggling to get up, Ayah noticed another branch coming toward her. Which quick movement she jumped.

The branch smashed into the base of the tree Ayah crashed into. Making a dent in the tree, the branch was stuck. And struggled to get free.

Ayah, still in the air, flipped toward the branch and pointed her keyblade straight at it. With amazing speed she moved straight toward the branch, and broke it in two.

Landing, she ran toward Riku. Destroying the two heartless he was fighting.

"We've got to get out of here. There's not sense in fighting. These trees are as hard a rock. And I don't think I can pull that move twice."

Riku nodded and withdrew his keyblade. He began to run.

Riku and Ayah ran down the brick road, dodging falling tree branches and swarming heartless. He looked behind him to see the monster trees struggling to get out of the ground.

"Riku! Watch out!"

Riku jumped to the side of the Gargoyle heading straight at him. Missing Riku, the heartless tried to stop, but instead crashed into a nearby tree branch, and vanished.

Making sure he was paying attention this time, Riku continued to run.

"Riku, look!" Ayah yelled.

The end of the road could now be seen.

Riku started to sprint as fast as he could, dodging the thrashing the angry branches around him. The end was now getting closer, he couldn't stop now!

Ayah was in right behind him. Following his lead. And would turn around now and then to throw white boomerangs at the advancing heartless. They're numbers finally shrinking.

Riku started to smile, feeling relief about how close they were getting. He looked behind him to see how Ayah was holding up. Aware that he was looking at her, she never moved her eyes from the end. Hoping that it wouldn't disappear. He looked back at the road…

All of a sudden, a branch smashed right in front of Riku's pathway, making him stop.

After a shudder in the earth, the tree emerged from the ground. It's roots making 6 wobbly legs. The tree across from it roots appear from the earth as well. Creating another walking tree.

"Oh no!" Ayah mumbled. Riku looked behind them, and the advancing heartless were coming closer.

They were cornered.

Riku looked around quickly. There was no way to get past the Heartless that were coming. And they trees would knocked them down if they even go close to them.

_Well, _Riku thought, looking at the heartless. _Can't go around them. _He looked at the tree. _Can't go under them. Looks like we have to go through them!_

Riku drew his key blade. And charged toward the trees.

"Riku!" Ayah yelled.

Riku ran to the trees, casting dark aurora at the trees. It staled they're progress, but did no damage. One of the trees, dropped back into the ground, and huge roots from the earth scattered the area. Swarming toward Riku.

Riku began to glow a white aura around. He jumped up in the air, and smashed the roots like it was nothing. He cut through more, and more roots advancing to the tree still in the ground. Guessing his move, the tree shot out one of his branches toward Riku.

Riku did the 360, swiping not only the roots but the branch too. Running again toward the tree, Riku smirked when he saw the tree take a few steps backwards. Riku jumped up, and crushed the tree in half. It gave a screech in reply.

Riku watched the tree as it melted into the earth. And faded into the air. The tree beside him fell to the ground, and did the same.

"Come on!" Ayah said running past him. Riku followed.

Riku never thought he be more happy to see the same old snow he had to walk over for days. Now all he could do was the exhaustion from running so much was fall onto the ground. He sat onto the cold snow and panted. He looked behind him.

When the smoked cleared from the trees fall. Everything was still. The trees were dead again like they were before. Piles of rubble were everywhere on the pathway from the battle.

Riku took a deep breath, and sighed. Not sure how long he could put up with this.

All of a sudden, he here giggling beside him. He looked to see Ayah lying on the snow. She had a smile on her face. It was a different smile though. This one was…realer…somehow.

Her giggled turned into laughter. As she rolled over onto her side facing Riku.

Riku looked at her and smiled. "What are you laughing at?"

"I don't know!" She chuckled. "I just fell on the ground. I felt this huge relief wash over me…I really thought we were done for. Then I couldn't stop smiling and something blew up in me and I started laughing." She looked at him, now serious. "You must really think I'm a freak now."

"No." He laughed. "I've seen that happen. Sora does that all the time. He'll smile or laugh and give me a thumbs up sometimes. I guess all your focus and worry from the battle vanishes and you can't help but laugh."

"Have you ever experienced it?"

Riku thought for a minute. "Can't say I have."

"Huh." She said her head resting on her arms.

"What?"

"And you tell me you let up on myself?"

Riku looked away, and let out a huff.

Ayah stood up. "I don't know about you but I'm done walking for the rest of the day. Lets rest."

Riku chuckled and stood up.

"I couldn't agree more."

**Authors Note:** _Its funny because I never really knew exactly where I came up with the moving trees until I really thought about it. Do I have any Okami fans out there? The trees in Kamui evil forest is where I got the idea! _

_And also, The area inside the Gate of Sanctuary is from Wolf's Rain. At the last episode. _


	17. A Werid Dreamor Nightmare?

Riku watched Ayah as she fought her eyelids to close. He could tell she was fatigued from the previous battle. Sense then, they had set up camp and had a delicious meal. Riku couldn't help but admit she was great cook. When he had asked where she learned to cook so good, she shrugged and said "I read a lot."

They're conversations ranged from a lot of things. Even some of Riku's childhood memories. He had told Ayah the time Sora and him got in trouble for throwing paper balls at each other in class, and then they skipped out on detention and sparred against each other. Ayah also shared some of her childhood memories that were lighthearted and not full of her people's resentment that had caused her to keep her other memories deep inside.

Overall Riku still didn't know a thing about her. He had so many questions. Why was she the one to be crown the Princess of Darkness? Why did the villagers cast her out? What did she do that made then hate her so much?

And more importantly…where was her mother?

He knew she was dead. But exactly how? From what he gather she was one of the best leaders the worlds have ever known. Even as good as Mickey. But then if she was so powerful then what killed her?

Riku knew better than to ask though. He could tell that her memories were old scars she has been trying to heal and ignore. The chains of the past were not willing to let her go.

Riku hoped that someday he could help her. Maybe listen to her when she needed to talk. Even though he knew it was none of his business. He would pester her about it. The words didn't need to be said ether. When she was ready Riku would always be there to listen. She knew that. She has been gradually letting him in. Heck, he wondered if he was the only person in the world to ever see the girl laugh.

Riku yawned. Surprised that he was tired after being out for a day and a half. Setting his thoughts aside, Riku turned over and fell asleep.

_It was dark as far as the eye could see…_

_Riku looked around, trying to find anything to give him a way out. But he was in a place of darkness. A place that did not want him to escape._

_Riku turned around, looking vitality around the area. Until something caught his eye in the distance, that even his eyes had a hard time believing what was in front of him._

_A woman in a white gown was standing in front of Riku. Her eyes stared at him, unmoving._

_Who is she? Riku wondered._

_Finally, after knowing Riku had noticed her, she began to walk toward him. The clank of her shoes the only thing that he could hear in this strange world._

_A shot of anxiety ran through Riku in an attempt to escape the worry, he took a few steps back. The woman only quickened her steps. _

_As she approached Riku, she raised her hand and touched Riku's forehead with her cold white hands…._

_Then everything vanished in a flash._

_Riku began to run for his life. Heartless were everywhere and he couldn't no summon his keyblade. Given him the only option to run._

_Riku stopped his pace when a strange heartless appeared in front of him. Riku ran to the right, only to be confronted by another Heartless moments after. _

_Everywhere Riku ran, Heartless blocked his path. After awhile, Riku began to feel the strain in his legs. He stumbled as he stopped. _

_Riku turned around to see numerous amounts of heartless gathering into one. Riku could barely tell the outline of the creature. But he could feel the power coming from it._

_Riku turned to run , but the heartless grabbed him by the leg with his long, powerful arms. Riku feel hard to the ground. He looked behind him to see two glowing eyes peering at him. _

_The monster paused for a moment then raised his other arm putting one finger to Riku's forehead._

_Riku started at the creature in confusion._

_The beast threw up his arm in the air, and bawled his fingers into a fist._

_With a trust, the arm shot toward Riku…_

Riku woke with a jolt. He looked around. Same snow covered field. Same dead trees.

Same sleeping Ayah

He felt a wave of relief to see Ayah huddled around her bag sleeping. Just knowing she was safe and sound set him at peace.

Riku stood up and summoned his keyblade. _My turn to make breakfast._

_**Where are you my love?**_

"_**Ayah" **_

_Ayah looked up from her book to see her mother standing in front of her. She smiled. Every time she saw her mother brought a huge grin on her face. _

"_What are you reading?"_

_Ayah looked down at her book._

"_A story about a girl who gets lost in the forest and gets saved by a strange beast. He brings her to his home and heals her wounds. They have a rough start because the beast can be smug and mean but later they fall in love with each other."_

_The woman sat on the arm of the chair and looked at the page Ayah was reading._

"_The a new one for you dear. I thought you like books that had world history. Or about science and plants. I've never seen you so interested in a novel. Why the change of heart?"_

_The little girl puckered up her lips and thought. "I'm…not sure…I just found the book lying around. And I just started reading…and I couldn't stop!"_

_The woman laughed. "We'll. That was one of my favorites, too."_

_Ayah looked up at her mother. "Really?!"_

_She nodded._

"_Mom. Do you think I'll fall in love?"_

_The woman thought for a moment._

"_Why do you ask that?"_

"_Well…you know how people around here see me…I don't even have one friend. So I kinda wondered if I'll ever find love."_

_The woman smiled._

"_I have no doubt that you find love dear. Everyone has a certain someone out there for him or her. But it's a bit early for that now, don't you think?"_

_Ayah frowned. "Yeah, I guess.."_

_The woman chuckled and picked Ayah up. "Come on." she said as she sat Ayah to the ground. "Lets go to dinner."_

_Ayah ran after her mother out the door._

"_Someone out there…for me?" She thought. She stared at the hallway walls as she passed them. Ayah stopped in front of the fountain and peered into the glimmering water below._

"_I wonder who it is…and what he's doing right now."_

"_Ayah!" _

_**Good Morning**_

"Ayah!"

Ayah's eyes fluttered open. She was barely awake, and she desperately wanted to go back to sleep. She groaned and pressed her head in the center of her bag. "Five more minutes…"

She heard a chuckle beside her. After a moment of silence she took a deep breath and calmed her senses to go back into a blissful sleep.

Seconds after she felt a object hit her head. Giving her numb head a slight pain.

She jolted up. "Ok! I'm up, I'm up!"

Riku laughed while he stared at her with his glimmering eyes.

She raised her hand to the side of her head. "Oww." She said. She looked beside her to see a wooden spoon laying in the snow.

She picked the object up, and threw it at Riku. "That was one heck of a good morning."

He caught it with his left hand without any trouble. "We have to make up the one and a half days we didn't travel."

She glared at him. "I let you sleep."

"True. But I was injured."

Ayah signed. "Lets see if I let you sleep next time your dying of a fever."

"Looking forward to it."

Ayah stood up and stretched her arms over her head. She sniffed the air, and caught a strange whiff of something

"What smells good?" she yawned.

"Our meal."

She looked at him. "No way. You cooked breakfast?"

He nodded.

"Huh." She said in a surprised manner. She peered over to the bowl and looked inside.

"Hope it taste as good as it smells." She remarked.

Riku laughed and passed a bowl with a spoon in the middle to her. "Eat up."

She poured the stew into the wooden bowl. She could feel the heat coming from dish. The stew looked delicious

She picked up her spoon and pushed it into her mouth, warming her insides. The stew was slightly different from hers, but it was still very good. She smiled at its taste.

Riku laughed. "Glad it pleases you!"

She dropped her smile. "I'll admit its not bad." She stated. "but it still needs some work."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Needs more salt."

Riku huffed and shook his head. "I'll work on that. I guess until then you should be the chef."

Ayah nodded in agreement.

"But that does mean you can't sleep in anymore…"

She grimaced. And then frowned at Riku when he laughed.

"I can live with that."

"Oh can you?"

Ayah gave him an evil glare, then stucked out her tongue.

"How old did you say you were again?"

Ayah chucked her spoon at Riku's head.

"Oww. I rest my case."

Ayah gave him a know it all look.

"I'm not giving you your spoon back though."

Ayah smiled and then brought the bowl to her lips and made a loud slurp.

"Your evil."

"I know. I'm friends with Maleficent remember?" She slurped again.

"Oh yeah. It's coming back to me." Riku rolled his eyes. Ayah slurped her soup.

"On a more serious note what's next on our route? Anymore killer trees?"

Ayah stopped her hand from moving the spoon and further to her mouth. "That was weird. Everything has been in the book until now. The trees were as dead as they look when this guy was here."

"Then why did the trees suddenly come alive?"

Ayah looked down, and it seemed she was in a daze. "I'm not really sure…"

Riku could tell she was lying. There was something she wasn't telling him. But what? It's not like she had anything to do with-

_And because of you the heartless took our home_

Jonathan's word suddenly came back to him. He knew now that Ayah might have had a role in what was going now. And she was paying the price.

"We'll what ever it is." Riku said, not wanting her to see his suspicion. "We can take care of it."

Ayah looked up at him. "Yeah." Coming out her daze, she smirked. She made another slurp.

Riku growled in annoyance. But he was relieved Ayah wasn't sad anymore.

"I'll stop when you give me back my spoon."

Riku shook his head and grabbed her spoon and threw it.

Ayah raised her hand in the air and caught it. "Thanks."

"So, our route?"

Ayah too a spoonful of the stew and put it in her mouth. She scurried through her bag until she came across the book. She skimmed through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

She grabbed the spoon out of her mouth, and looked at Riku. "A maze."


	18. A Dark Encounter

**Authors Note: **_Update! Wahoo!_

_Hey! I appreciate everyone how adds my story to their favorites. But I really do wish for more reviews. Only because I want more people to read my story…and the fact that people might only read a story by looking a reviews(Yes…I'm guilty of it too!) So please R&R!!_

"Wow." Riku exclaimed. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this."

"What were you expecting?"

"Something smaller."

After walking, they finally came up to the maze Ayah had read about. Even at a distance, you could tell how incredibly big it was. Massive stone walls stretch across the plain for what seemed like forever. Ayah and Riku stood in front of a large wooden door. The entrance to the huge maze.

"The author described the maze as perilous, tiring, and a huge test toward body and especially mind." Ayah said skimming through the pages.

Riku shook his head. "Ok, maybe the optimism is running out now." 

Ayah smiled. But not at Riku. 

"But…"

He looked at her.

"He was so kind to write us a guide."

Riku could feel his lips smiling with relief. 

"Do you think our lucks changing?" Ayah asked him.

'I wouldn't count on it." Riku said. "We Keybladers have a habit of finding trouble."

Ayah laughed and headed through the door.

"_Well." _Riku thought. _"So far so good."_

It had been awhile sense Ayah and Riku entered the maze. And the inside was just as big and intimidating as the outside. The walls were enormous so climbing wasn't and option. The ground was dirt, and covered with ruble broken from the wall. Moss was speckled across the side of the wall.

Riku had to hand it to the author. If it wasn't for him, Ayah and him probley would be at the entrance going crazy of the dead ends. 

They came across a fork. It was ether Left, up, or right.

Ayah looked at the book. "left." Riku followed.

Everything was going according to plan this time. Sure, there was a heartless every now and then but nothing Riku alone couldn't handle. He would fight while Ayah made sure they were going the right way.

But the feeling of worry wouldn't leave Riku. Things were going too good. And that was what made him worry. Something was going to happen. He just didn't know what.

After awhile of more twisting an turning, Ayah turned to Riku and smiled. "We're almost out!"

Riku smiled and nodded.

Following the path, they were greeted by another fork. Left or right. Along with a shadow.

Riku did dark aura and killed the Heartless instantly. "Which way?"

"Right. And then were should be out!" Ayah ran ahead. Riku followed her. They ran right, and then the path when up. After going up, there was not a long path going left, and one going down.

Ayah stopped in her tracks. "This isn't right…"

Riku stopped as well. "What do you mean."

Ayah pulled out the book and read the pages. "There's not suppose to be a road down! The exit should have been here." She pointed to the wall.

"Did we make a wrong turn?"

"I'm positive we didn't. Because everything has been right so far…" Riku could see the panic in her eyes. 

"I knew things were going too right for us." He mumbled.

Ayah walk toward the wall and started to feel around it. "Is there a stone we need to press in order for it the open." She pressed each stone.

Riku also looked around. After awhile of checking stones. Riku sighed. "Open sesame?"

Ayah turned around and gave him a glare. "Sooo, not helping." 

A noise in the background caught Riku's attention.

He turned his head in a quick movement behind him. Nothing was there.

"Did you hear that?" Ayah asked.

"Yeah…"

"You were right about our luck." Ayah said drawing her keyblade. 

Five Rabid Dogs came out of the corner. Barking mad, they headed toward Riku and Ayah.

"Yaa!" Riku yelled as he used Dark Aura. They hit the first two instantly, killing them instantly.

Ayah use her white boomerangs on the last three. 

"There." Riku huffed. But his relief wouldn't last long.

Behind them they heard more barking. Ayah looked at the pathway going down and noticed what was happening.

A dark cloud was in the path. And Rabid Dogs, as well as shadows, and gargoyles were gathering and making the cloud larger.

The dark cloud formed into two legs, and tow large arms. It's arm were so large that it's fist rolled into a ball and its weight was leaning onto his wrist. It's legs were not as large and were canine like.

It's face was like a Gargoyle and its jaw was like a rabid dog. On it's back were two large wings in-between a line of spikes o his back. 

"Oh-no…" Riku muttered in shock. He recognized the Heartless.

It was the one from his dream. 

The Heartless recognized Riku's fear, and roared in reply. Shaking the ground and walls around them.

"We have to run!" Riku said.

"What? Are you kidding? We'll lose our place and get lost!"

"And we'll get killed if we stay here."

"What?"

Riku looked at Ayah pleadingly. His eyes locked onto hers. "Just trust me."

Ayah stared into his eyes. He could see the worry and fear coming from them. She knew Riku wouldn't be this upset without a reason.

"Ok." She said hesitantly.

Riku grabbed Ayah's hand and started to run to the left.

The Heartless watched them run, and roared in furry. It scurried after them.


	19. Déjà Vu

Riku ran from turn to turn, holding onto Ayah for dear life. Sometimes a Heartless would block their path, but instead of destroying it Riku ran from it. Something was up, and Ayah couldn't figure out what!

"Riku!" She yelled. "What in the world is wrong with you?"

Riku did hear her. He was concentrating on remembering what happened in the dream. Everything up till not has been complete Déjà vu. Running from each Heartless as they appeared. And of course the huge one right on their tail. What else happened? It grabbed him, he knew that. Then he touched his forehead…

The woman suddenly appeared in his mind.

"_The forehead!" _Riku thought.

"Riku!" Ayah yelled.

Riku stopped running and skidded to a stop. He was thinking so much that he was unaware of his surroundings, leading them to a dead end.

Riku let go of Ayah's wrist, and looked at the huge towering wall above them.

The earth shook under there feet. The Heartless was getting close.

"Ayah," Riku said as he summoned his keyblade. "Aim for the forehead."

She looked at him. "Is that his weak spot?"

"I'm hoping."

The heartless appeared out of the corner. Faintly smiling that it finally found its prey.

Ayah studied the Heartless closely. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was purple with grey stripes on his arms and legs. It's wings were black and its spikes were twist and were yellow and grey.

Its neck was small and its face held two glowing eyes. It's ears were pointed and grey.

Then, on its forehead, were three vertical yellow diamonds. The middle larger then the others.

"_He just might be right about that weak spot…" _She thought.

Ayah summoned her keyblade. "You better tell me what's going on later!"

The Heartless roared, and flew into the air. It's spikes glowed, and then shot beams of darkness at Ayah and Riku.

At the last second, they jumped out of the beams direction. Riku jumped, and used Dark aura onto the beast.

The spheres headed toward the diamonds on the monsters head, but then the monster raised his arm. Taking the full brunt of the attack.

"What?"

It lowered its arm. Not even a scratch was left. The Heartless made another loud roar, that was turned into a shock wave.

This attack couldn't be dodged. In a attempt to break the attack, Ayah shot two dark boomerangs at the winding attack headed straight for them. The boomerangs went right through the wind. Serving no damage.

"Dang it!" She muttered in frustration.

As a last attempt, Riku used a shield to block the wave just as it was approaching. The impact was so powerful that he had a hard time staying on his feet. And keeping his hands on the shield.

After the wave vanished, Riku lowered is guard. But then was suddenly attacked by a huge arm.

Riku flew across the pathway, until finally a wall stopped him from going any further.

"Riku!" Ayah yelled, and ran to go help him, but was slammed down to the ground by a huge hand.

As the dust cleared, Ayah looked up to see the Heartless's glowing eyes staring intently at her. Its head tilt a bit to the left. Almost as if was studying her. It's mouth dropped in a little gasp, and raised its head in a roar. The spikes on it's back began to glow.

"No!" Riku yelled, regaining his balance. He stumbled as he ran to Ayah's aid. But the Heartless used its other hand and grabbed him, lifting him in the air. It smiled at it's victory.

Riku grunted, and tried to wiggle himself free. But to no avail, he was stuck. He couldn't move his arms to use an attack. Even if he did have the use of even one arm, Dark Aurora did no damage to this Heartless.

Ayah on the other hand, had at least half of her right arm out of the creases of the creatures fingers. She struggled the stretch out her arm underneath its hand. _If I can just summon the keyblade…._

Riku watched as Ayah tried to move her arm. Guessing her intentions, Riku thought a distraction would do nicely to get the Heartless's attention toward him.

Riku mustered all the magic power he had into the palm of his hand. The monster shook his head, obviously in pain, but couldn't understand where it was coming from. It screamed and looked at Riku. It's hand was burning, and let Riku out of it's grasp.

Riku feel with a thud on the hard stone ground. The Heartless shook its hand from the pain, and looked furiously at Riku. It roared and raised its hand in the air…

Riku held his keyblade up for defense…

Ayah finally mange to release her arm from the Heartless, and in a mater of seconds she summoned her keyblade and began to gain energy into the tip of her weapon.

The Heartless, feeling the power, looked toward Ayah and moved his arm toward her. But it was too late. The beam hit it right at the center of his forehead.

It screamed in pain, and moved its arms to its head and shaking his body.

Ayah ran to Riku and used a few Cure spells on him as they both watched the Heartless go on a craze rampage. Hitting walls, ruble around the path, and even it's tail hitting the ground at one point. It was looking for its attackers. But was in to much pain to see where they went.

Finally it raised its head from its hands, and began to run toward Riku and Ayah. With a jump it began to move toward them.

Ayah stood up to fight, but was stopped by Riku, who jumped and struck the monster on the forehead with Way to Dawn.

The monster roared, and its body fell to the ground. Darkness began to surround it as it's body faded. Leaving faint bits of darkness in the air.

The diamonds on it's forehead did not fade, they hovered into the air and began to glow. Shooting a ray of light down the pathway, making a sharp turn to the left.

Ayah suddenly realized she was kneeling on the ground. She let out a big sigh as if she had been holding her breath forever. _"What a relief." _She thought. _"I thought we were done for."_

"Hey." Riku said softly. Lending his hand out to her. "You ok?"

"Yeah." She said taking his hand. "Thanks too you."

Riku huffed and brought pulled her up to her feet. "Not to bad yourself."

She smiled, and realized her hand from Riku's. She stared at the beam of light. "Think its leading us out?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure." He started to walk down the path, and Ayah followed.


	20. A Glimpse into the Mist

"Phew! I never thought I be so happy to see this snowy covered ground again!' Ayah remarked, and Riku couldn't agree more.

They finally made it out of the maze, thanks to the light that guided them. Riku felt a bit fatigued after the last encounter of Heartless. All he wanted to do now was to eat a nice bowl of stew and then go to sleep. But then again, he was a little bit afraid to go asleep. The dreams he had been having were growing out of control. Even before the one he had the night before. He might have forgotten about them when he woke up, but apart of him felt more tired then refreshed when he woke up. And then there was the woman. She seemed so…familiar…

"So how did you know where the Heartless weak spot was?" Ayah inquired.

Riku shook his head from his thoughts. "Oh…well I dreamed about it."

"You what?"

They're conversation halted as the beam of light bursted into a huge shock wave. Ayah covered her eyes at the bright ray of light, and peered under her arm to see the Heartless they had just encountered emerge from the path creeping closer.

It wasn't into no way in good health. It looked as injured as it did when Riku struck it. It limped slowly toward them. It's eyes gleaming. Ayah ran toward the Heartless to attack.

All of a sudden it stopped and stood on its feet. It raised its head and opened its mouth, as it started to fade. But not like before. This time it was dissolving into a strange eerie mist. That covered Ayah and Riku.

Riku opened his eyes to see Ayah was no longer beside him. "Ayah!" He called. But no response.

He started walking, swatting at the fog in front of him to see. The mist was thick, and it was green with a tint of red. No way like you average weather mist.

"Ayah!" Riku yelled, but again no answer.

"Do you want to play with me?"

He nearly jumped out of his shoes and looked behind him. He saw a little girl shyly standing an staring at him.

_Where did she come from? _Riku thought. "Hey." He said softly reaching out his hand. "What are you doing-"

He stopped talking as him hand went right through the girl. He gasped and brought his hand up to his face and stared at it. _"This mist must be creating an illusion."_

Riku looked at the girl again. She had black hair past her shoulders, had red eyes, and wore a little white dress. She tightly clutched a moogle doll in her fragile little fingers.

Riku stared at the girl. The black hair, those crimson eyes. _That couldn't be…_

"Play with you?" Riku thought were erased as he saw a three little children appear behind him. _More illusions? _Riku asked himself.

"Your crazy if you think we'd play with you!" A boy with tanish hair yelled.

"The grown-up don't like you. They say your dangerous." A boy with blonde hair taunted.

"Go play with your Heartless friends you monster!" A strawberry blonde girl yelled.

"Their not my friends…" The girl with black hair said shyly. She looked down to the ground and kicked her feet in the ground.

"Sure they're not." Yelled the blonde. "We don't want to play with you anyway. You might kill us!"

"I wont! I promise."

"Just get out of here!" Yelled the tanish hair kid.

The girl started to sniffle.

"Get go'in!" The strawberry blonde girl yelled. The blonde bent down and picked up what looked like to Riku was a rock.

"Go away monster!" He yelled as he threw the rock. The rock when threw Riku and struck the girl in the arm. She yelped in pain and collapse to the ground. The three children laughed and giggled at the sight.

The girls shoulders shivered and Riku knew she was crying. He had his share of picking on Sora. It was all in fun and games, but this was going to far. If this wasn't a illusion. He probley would have socked the kids even though they were probley ten years younger than him.

Suddenly a strange aura surrounded the girl. The aura got bigger and bigger intel it started to covered the ground around her.

Riku could sense that this aura was darkness.

The girl raised her head and peered at the three children with her eyes that were filled with tears. "I'm not a monster!" She sobbed. And with that, the darkness expanded and began to stretched toward the children.

Riku raised his arms to block the attack, but it when right through him. He heard three terrifying shrieks behind him and then nothing. Riku looked behind him. Nothing. The children were gone.

Behind the little girl now stood a dark form. It was blurry, so Riku couldn't tell what it was, but he could sense it. An immense amount of darkness was in the form.

The form raced past the girl who was still crying on the ground.

All of a sudden the illusion vanished for a split second. Everything was quiet, and then a new image appeared. People were running. Bags, weapons, and even children in hand as they sprinted away from whatever they kept peering behind their backs for.

The form Riku saw before was back, creating tentacles of darkness that grabbed civilians and crushed them. They faded into the air as darkness, and then from them a new Heartless stood. Riku had never seen anything so horrifying or terrifying in his life. Even after everything he'd had been through, was nothing compared to this huge massacre that was stretched before him.

All of a sudden, a woman with a staff with white shards appeared. She stared at the form with no fear, and began to run toward it.

"My lady no!" someone screamed. Riku looked over and saw Jonathan standing still. With a shocked look on his face.

The woman swung her staff in the air and summoned orbs of light that advanced toward the form. It shrunk back in pain, and some of the tentacles began to disappear.

The woman jumped in the air and raised pointed her staff toward the heartless. "Thundaga!" She yelled. Sparks of electricity surrounded the staff and struck the form.

The woman jumped back and watched the form as it kneeled to the ground. Breathing heavily in defeat. She raised her staff in the air-

"Mommy!"

Riku looked over to see the little girl with black hair cowering with Shadows and Solider Heartless creeping toward her.

"No!" The woman yelled and she jumped and swung her staff at the heartless. Destroying all of them at once.

The girl looked up at the woman with a grin. "Mommy!"

The woman smiled at her…

And then her smiled faded into a pain. Her face lost its color as the form struck its hand right through her.

The little girl stared at the arm that went through her mothers body. It was clutched into a fist, but then raised its fingers as if stretching. It removed it's arm and watched as the woman's body collapse onto the ground. It roared at its victory, and then ran off.

The woman was breathing heavily now. Her eyes were closed and sweat was around her face.

"…Mommy…?" The girl whispered softly.

The woman opened her eyes at the voice and stretched her arm toward the girl.

"Ayah…" she called as her body began fading into light.

"No…" The girl cried as her mother began to disappear. The woman smiled as one final goodbye to her daughter. And vanished completely.

The girl shook her head. And her eyes were creating tears that ran down her cheeks. She stood up, and began to creep closer to where her mother once laid.

The girls faced trembled, and the girl opened her mouth.

A scream rang across the plain.

Except it wasn't the little girl who screamed, it was Ayah.


	21. The Road Ahead

**Authors Note: **_Another update. Yay_

_All I have to say is REVIEW PEOPLE!!_

"NO!" Ayah screamed and swung her keyblade that created white boomerangs that went through the girl. The illusions began to vanish, and so did the mist that was slowly fading away.

"Make it stop!!" Ayah screamed again. She swung her keyblade again and the boomerangs went through the mist. Hitting no target.

Riku dodged a few that almost hit him. "Ayah!" Riku yelled. Ayah didn't seem to hear. And was still swinging her keyblade in the air with a heartbreaking cry.

Riku ran toward her. "Ayah!"

She still didn't hear him. And raised her keyblade in the air.

"Ayah!!" Riku yelled as he grabbed her wrist. The keyblade vanished and all that could be heard was Ayah's heavy breathing.

"….Make it stop…" Ayah whimpered. She shook her head to the ground.

"Ayah…" Riku said softly. After a while, Ayah finally raised her head and looked at Riku. Her eyes were full of pain. And she looked like she was about to cry.

Riku felt helpless just looking at her. He wasn't good at comforting people. That's one of the things Riku envied Sora the most. He was the type of person that would stop and cheer up a little kid who was crying because his ice cream fell to the ground. But Riku never really knew how to cheer up a kid who was about to lose it, let alone someone his own age.

Now, all he want to do was help Ayah. He knew how she felt. To be the one that destroyed your own home. He'd been their and done that. He was lucky enough to be forgiven for it too. But Ayah was still earning her forgiveness. And her people hated her with a passion. And Riku now knew why.

But Riku heard a whisper in his heart telling him what to do. And instead of ignoring his heart like he usually did, he listened.

He wrapped his arms around Ayah and held her.

Ayah was a bit stunned at the embrace, but she was to emotional to care. She laid her head in the crease of his neck and sobbed. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't fall. Not that she was surprised. She had convinced herself years ago hat she had cried herself out of tears. When ever she felt like crying she couldn't. The tears would never come and it would leave her sad and empty. But now, for the first time in years someone was here comforting her. And for some strange reason, Ayah was in fact comforted.

After awhile, Riku finally pulled back, but his arms stilled stayed by her shoulders. "You ok?"

Ayah shook her head from a daze. "Hmmm." She mumbled. "Yeah…" She said sheepishly. "Thanks."

Riku nodded and let go on her shoulders. "We should keep going walking. I don't think we should stay here."

Ayah nodded her head still looking away. She made a step forward, but her leg began to buckle and she almost fell. But Riku's arm grabbed her before she hit the ground. "Woah!" He said.

"I'm fine…" She lied. She was anything but that.

Riku had to giggle at her stubbornness. Even after a day like this she still held on to the tough girl act. He turned around and crouched to the ground. "Get on."

Ayah look up. "No…Riku. Spare me some dignity."

Riku said nothing, and stayed in his crouched position.

Ayah decided she was too tired to protest, and so with any other words she jumped onto Riku's back and put her arms around his neck. Even though there was really no need. Riku's arms held her high on his back. Safe and secure.

As he started walking, Ayah realized that even though Riku saw what she had done, he didn't shun her. She had been afraid that if he knew that she killed her mother, and that she was responsible for destroying her homeland he would turn on her. But now he was carrying her, with a bad arm no less, down a path that seem to go on forever. And like that road, Riku wasn't going anywhere. And Ayah finally realized that.

…Or maybe she knew that all along. But wasn't listening to her heart because the fear of the risk of losing him was too great. Now she wasn't afraid. Ayah looked down at Riku's head. His faced showed no emotion. Just the concentration on the road ahead.

Maybe that's what she should focus on now, the road ahead. Maybe it in fact was time to make atonement for the sins of the past and move on. Not just for her, but for her mother as well.

With a tired sigh, she rested her head on Riku's back, and fell asleep.

"Hmmm." Maleficent hummed as she watched the pot which contained the image of Riku carrying Ayah.

"Aww. Aint that cute." said Pete. "I thought you wuz just kidding when you said they were cute couple. Maybe you were right after all."

"You fool!" Maleficent yelled as Pete jumped in the air and cowered. His ears pinned to the back of his head. "Riku is ruining everything! He's gotten her to actually _trust _him!"

Pete stood up a bit, afraid to face the witch's wrath again. He stared into the image in the pot. Riku was now setting the sleeping Ayah on the ground carefully not to wake her. Once she was finally laid down on a blanket, he stared at her for a minute. After awhile he stood up and ran toward a dead tree.

"Well…maybe you should put some road blocks in their path again. Y'know when you made those trees come alive."

"That wasn't me."

"Huh?"

Maleficent raised her head from the pot. "This Gate of Sanctuary has always been like this ever sense the world began. The starless sky, the dead trees, the snow covered ground…all of it was already there. But when Ayah's emotions unleashed the darkness within her, she summoned millions of heartless they destroyed her people and her home." Maleficent left the pot and began to walk to the nearby window.

"Drawn to the heart of the world, they all fled the Gate, and tainted it. All I did was summon the Heartless. The darkness probley caused the trees to behave like they did." She began to laugh. "And who knows what else will happen! Their road is twice as dangerous now. And Riku can thank Ayah for that."

___________________________________________________________________________

**Authors Note: **_Well this chapter had a little fluff in it! And Maleficent gave you guys a little insight on why things are a tad different from when the mysterious man was in the Gate._

_Don't worry people. More fluff to come!! :D_


	22. Cherry Blossoms

Authors Note:

**This story is purely fan made and I do not own Sora, Riku, Kairi, or any original Kingdom Hearts characters. I just own Ayah, and that's good enough for me!**

_**Wow…I broke my wrist in gym class…FML! Lol**_

_**Okay I have a few updates for you. I know im probley the worst author out there because time between update is SOOO LONG! But thanks for waiting. I just don't want to screw this story up! I get writers block VERY easily and sometimes I write things and I reread them and go "What the hell was I thinking?"**_

_**Ayah looked down into the sprinkling fountain and watched her reflection look back at her. She studied herself, her jet black hair, her red eyes. Everything the kids at school made fun of her for she hated. Why did she have to be different? It just wasn't fair.**_

"_**Jonathan." **_

_**Ayah didn't need to look behind her to know it was her mother. She had been gone all day to do work on in the mountains where Heartless were blocking the way for miners to do their job. She wasn't suppose to be back until later into the night. But due to Ayah being sent home from school, she came home a bit early.**_

"_**What happened?" She inquired.**_

"_**Well…apparently a little girl at the school was picking on Ayah, and wouldn't let her play house with the rest of the children. I guess Ayah started to cry and a couple of Heartless appeared."**_

_**Her mother sighed. "My poor baby." Ayah felt a little better to know at least someone was on her side.**_

"_**My lady, if I may." Jonathan began. The woman looked at him and nodded. "Your just spoiling her by letting the behavior slide! Their has to be consequences!"**_

"_**So you want me to punish my daughter over something she cannot begin to control, Jonathan?"**_

_**Jonathan looked at his queen in shock.**_

"_**Ayah's powers are obviously connected to her emotions. A mental breakdown could cause a huge catastrophe in out world. And lecturing her wouldn't help. I know most of my people believe that she's some demon of the darkness…" She looked away from Jonathan and watched her girl scowl into the water.**_

"_**But really. All she is, is just a little girl. That's all. But people cant seem to understand that. They talk about it to their friends and family, their children listen. And in response to that, they bully her at school. If she could just get a normal like style, you could barely tell she was cursed."**_

"_**I'm sorry my lady. I shouldn't have said anything." Jonathan bowed.**_

"_**No. I want you to say what you feel, because I want to know what you think, and I also want others to know and understand what I think as well." She walked away from Jonathan and started toward her daughter.**_

"_**Hello dear." she said cheerfully. Ayah didn't move an inch out of place.**_

_**The woman smiled. "Have a bad day at school?"**_

"_**I don't want to talk about it…" Ayah scowled.**_

"_**Ah-hah…" The woman said in a humored way. She knew her daughter would at any second spill the beans.**_

"_**I just don't understand!" Ayah said looking at her mom and stomping her feet. "Why do I have to be cursed? Why did it have to be me?"**_

_**The woman eyes looked away for a moment in thought.**_

"_**All the kids make fun of me, the adults are mean to me, even Jonathan! But I'm not mean back, and they STILL hate me!"**_

"_**Sweetie." The woman said picking her daughter up in her arm and sat down on the fountain.**_

"_**People just don't understand what your going through, and they don't understand that their behavior toward you is actually causing their trouble. But you also have to understand that they are just scared."**_

_**Ayah kicked her feet in the air. "But if they were nice to me than there wouldn't be anything to be scared about! Just like you said!"**_

"_**Well, fear has a habit of dulling our senses and control our minds so we're unable to think rationally. But with all that aside…"**_

_**The woman switch Ayah's position onto her other knee. "Ayah. Things are difficult now, and life seems impossible." Ayah made a soft grumble in response. "But someday, you'll have a life that you've always dreamed of having." **_

_**Ayah looked up to her mother. "You think so?"**_

"_**I know so!" Her mother smiled. She raised her hand toward and stuck out her pinky. "I promise."**_

_**Ayah stared at her mother's raised pinky for a moment. Her mother was the only person in the world that ever made her fell human. She always said the right word to her when she felt like the universe was against her. And she knew no matter what, her mother was always on her side, and would never let her down. So raising her pinky, she knew that like all the rest of her mothers words, these ones were true. Even if they did seem impossible. She tightly woved her pinky around her mothers and squeezed.**_

"_**Okay. But mom, do you think you can sing to me again? That would make me feel better." Ayah requested, but she knew already that she felt better than ever before.**_

_**Her mother smiled. "Well…"**_

"_**Pleeeeeeeeeeeasse!!"**_

_**Her mother laughed. "Okay." She complied while picking up Ayah a little higher. She cleared her throat and began to sing.**_

_**The cherry blossoms fell, fluttering downEmbracing every bit of my fluttering loveEven now, I'm dreaming the dream I prayed for with you that springThe cherry blossoms scatter**_

Ayah woke up with her mothers voice ringing through her head. Her voice made her heart ache, and it was the _last _thing she wanted to hear right now due to earlier events.

She slowly sat up in her bed and looked across from her to see Riku sleeping. His head resting on his crossed arms, and his knees crossed.

"_He looks so peaceful_." She though with a giggle that escape her mouth. She stood up and began to walk away from the camp. She was in no need to sleep, and need to clear her head.

As she walked, she still heard her mothers song still circling in her head. At first she was angry that she couldn't think of anything else but a dumb lullaby her mother use to sing to her so she would stop whining, but then she started to come up with the words in her head, and began to hum the tune. Now and then stopping due to the wrong note, or wrong word. Bit by bit the word came to her.

_The cherry blossoms fell, fluttering downEmbracing every bit of my fluttering loveEven now, I'm dreaming the dream I prayed for with you that springThe cherry blossoms scatter_

As soon as the word escaped her mouth, the more she didn't want to stop singing. She felt her heart begin to lose some stress, and began to sing once more.

_From the train I could seeThe traces of one dayThe big bridge we crossed togetherGraduation time cameAnd you left townOn the colorful riverbank, I search for that day_

_We went our separate waysAnd brought our spring to an endMy future is in full bloomBut it fills me with panicThis year, once again, the cherry blossoms are reflectedIn the window of the trainIn my heartI hear your voice_

_The cherry blossoms--_

In the background, Ayah heard a grumble and nearly jumped out of her skin. She jolted behind her and saw that Riku was now on his side and his body was moving to get into a more comfortably position. After awhile all she could hear was the crackling fire, and Riku's breathing.

Ayah realized she had been holding her breathe, and let out a huge sigh of relief. She didn't know how loud she had been singing, and she prayed to the Gods that he didn't hear her. "_I better not push my luck…_" She thought

Heading back to the camp, Ayah again hummed the tune of the old lullaby to herself. If not alive in flesh, her mother was most certainly alive in spirit. Maybe that's why she had been dreaming of her mother so much lately. _Ether that or being here is just bring all the memories, good and bad, back…but I'm not so sure I want them…" _

**Authors Note: **_BTW, the song is from Ikimono Gakari (except English) I dunno why but when I listen to them I think of Ayah sometimes…werid… _


	23. Spacing Out

Riku walked in thought through the plains, not really watching his surroundings. For all he knew, there could be a dozen Heartless attacking them and he wouldn't have noticed. He was so spaced out that he couldn't even tell that Ayah had been trying to talk to him for the past hour.

"Hello? Gummi Ship to Riku!" She said with a annoyed look on her face. Riku shook his head, to get what he could of his brain off of Cloud 9 and back onto the ground.

"Have you be listening? I asked you how your arm was!"

"Oh…" Riku muttered, replaying the sentence in his head twice to get the full meaning of her words. "It's fine. I can barely tell its hurt."

Ayah's irritated expression then turned into a more somber one. "Are you ok? Your really spaced out, even for you."

"Yeah. I'm fine." Riku confirmed, now giving Ayah his complete attention. "I just have a lot on my mind…like what happened yesterday."

Riku watched as Ayah's eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped. Her face showed such a grave expression that Riku immediately took back his words.

"N-no! Not about that!" Riku stammered, rising his hands in defense. "I meant before that. Your book has led us in the right direction, but it never said anything about the huge Heartless we had to face. I'm a little worried about what else is in stored for us."

"Oh." Ayah sighed in relief. "Well…don't worry so hard. It cant be as bad as facing Xehanort's Heartless…right?"

Riku made a smile and nodded his head in agreement. He watched as she turned around and continued walking forward, waiting only a moment so he wouldn't be completely caught up to her.

Truth was, that wasn't what Riku was worried about at all. Sure, the Heartless were tough. Pushovers compared to Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas. Nothing that he and Ayah couldn't handle together. The thing that worried him was the dream he had the night before. The woman figure that showed him how to defeat the heartless, the one that tapped his forehead…

She looked exactly like Ayah's mother did in the illusion.

He was sure. Almost positive that it was the same person. Maybe the Queen's spirit had been trying to contact him. A part of her that still live to protect her daughter from harm ten years after her death.

Or maybe, Riku's rational side told him, that it was just a mere coincidence that the figure looked like her. Or maybe he's confused and just _thinks _it looks like the deceased queen. But he had only seen the queen once, and that was after the dream. It couldn't have been just a coincident…could it?

"_I don't want to say anything to Ayah ether…_" Riku thought to himself. _"Not until I'm sure that its her…but I don't know how she'll take it…"_ He looked over to his companion. _"But I feel guilty not telling her…and she'll probley bite my head off for it later. But I'd rather be safe than sorr-"_

Riku thoughts froze when Ayah came to a dead halt and he almost toppled over her. She groaned in response. "Would so stop spacing out? We're here!"

"Here?"

Ayah sighed. "Honestly. I told you twice to make sure you were listening. But apparently you weren't." Ayah moved the tan bag around her arms to scrimmage through it with her free hand. She pulled out the book and slapped it on Riku's face, enforcing him to pay attention.

"Next up is a huge canyon. Its about 5000 feet deep." Riku peeled the book carefully off his face and peered into the open page.

"To cease your worries, and hopefully your space traveling!" She said with an indefinite glare, making Riku flinch in response. "There will be no climbing, no jumping, no puzzles, and absolutely no fighting." She turned around to what Riku finally notice was the horizon of the canyon, and what seemed to be two wooden bars sticking out on their side of the gorge. "All we have to do is cross a sturdy bridge over the canyon. Simple as that."

She turned around to Riku, who was holding the book in his hands and was staring across the plain. "Did you get all that or am I gonna have to watch as you space out again and walk right off the cliff."

Riku laughed in response. "No. I got it. Sorry. No more spacing out. Promise."

Ayah blinked at the word "promise" and just stared at him. The dream she had last night flashed in her mind. What a coincidence.

"Hey, now whose spacing out." Riku said slapping the book over her eyes, and started to walk toward their next destination.


	24. A Little Drop in the Road

**Authors Note: **_This has to be my favorite chapter so far. I was giggling to myself while I wrote this. I tried to keep in mind what Riku's character would do and say in this situation. And well I hope im right._

"No!" Ayah yelled. "This _cannot_ be happening!"

And Riku couldn't agree more. After all, this was suppose to be a simple trial. Just a walk across a stone bridge, nothing more. Easy. Except one problem. There was no bridge.

Riku scanned the remains of the stone bridge that once stood across the gorge. The edges were rough and jagged. The remains of the bridge had fallen straight to the bottom into the endless abyss.

Riku looked over the edge. "_Well, maybe not so endless." _He thought. Below was a small river that flowed across the canyon. Bits of rubble could be seen peaking through the waters surface, hosting as the once was bridge, new home.

"Its not that bad." Riku surmised. "We can climb it." He looked over at the depressed Ayah, who was now banging her head against the stone pole and groaning.

Riku laughed. "Come on. It's not that deep." She whined like a little kid who wasn't getting her way. Riku laughed again.

Ayah sighed, and lifted her head. "Okay." she sighed. And began to look over the edge of the cliff. Searching for an easy drop down.

"Let's get this over with…." she moaned.

"Ok," Ayah grunted. "When you said its not so bad, its THAT bad!!"

Riku smiled as he carefully placed his foot in the small crevice between to rocks. She had a point, if the heartless hadn't killed them yet, this sure would.

"Well…look on the bright side." He spoke as he dismounted of the crevice to another boulder. "At least the Heartless aren't attacking us."

Ayah's head jolted up and looked at Riku with one of her death glares. She was just a little bit ahead of him, but her lead was decreasing each drop she came too. Riku could tell that hiking was her least favorite activates.

"Are you TRYING to get us killed!" She yelled. "Your totally jinxing us!"Riku laughed. "I didn't know you were superstitious."

"Well, at this very moment I am!!"

He laughed, and he saw a faint smile spread across Ayahs face.

"Okay Mr. Positive, got anymore bright sides for me? Cause I'm feeling like we're never going to get down this cliff."

"Umm.." His mind raced as he looked around his surrounding for a good idea. "the sooner we get down there the sooner we can have a drink from the river."

"Yeah, if the waters healthy…still though, I cant wait to get on the riverbank and soak my aching hands and feet."

"_Riverbank…" _That word sparked a memory in Riku's head.

"You know, I had the weirdest dream last night?" He said in the most exaggerated mannerism. Ayah didn't look up at him at all. She was more focus on climbing.

"Oh yeah? What about?" She sounded uncaring.

"I didn't really see anything. But I heard a voice. The voice wasn't talking it was…singing." Riku head jolted toward Ayahs direction when he heard the loudest gasp he had ever heard in his life. She was holding on two small rocks to dismount on a larger one.

After a short period of time she slowly let go of her grasp and feel and short distance to the boulder. "Umm…S-sorry I-I almost fell." she stammered.

Riku giggled to himself quietly. It was more than just the fall that made her checks crimson red.

He knew he was being pushy but he simply could not let this go. He was having way to much fun with this.

"The voice was quiet at first but then it got louder and louder as she sang. Yeah…I'm pretty sure it was a females voice."

Ayah lips were pressed together while she was climbing, she pretended like she wasn't listening.

"And you know, it was the most beautiful voice I have ever heard."

Riku lips spread across his face as Ayahs cheeks got even redder. She groaned.

Riku couldn't help it. He started laughing.

"You know, you shouldn't deny it. I'm actually not lying, your voice is beautiful."

She couldn't ignore it anymore. "Riku…shut up!"

Her comment made the opposite affect Riku smirked and was giggling uncontrollably.

"Cant blame a guy for speaking the truth can you?

"Can we change the subject?"

"Only if you promise to sing a song for me sometime."

She looked appalled. "No!'

Riku looked up to the sky as if he was in deep thought. "What was the song about again? Something about cherry blossoms…"

She groaned "Alright! Okay! I promise! Now can we PLEASE change the subject?"

He smiled and look down. "Oh hey! Look we're almost there."

"Thank you!" she said now focusing on climbing again.

"_But something tells me this subjects going to come up again eventually…since he forced me into promising to sing for him! Ugh!" _She thought.

In the future she's going to have to be more thoughtful about where she sings out loud.


End file.
